Anamaria Marinca announced as part of The EUROPEAN SHOOTING STARS 2016 JURY

Leading industry experts are confirmed as this year’s Jury, set to select Europe’s best acting talent for the annual Berlinale showcase.

European Film Promotion (EFP) proudly presents the 2016 EUROPEAN SHOOTING STARS jury: Romanian actress and former SHOOTING STAR Anamaria Marinca (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days), Greek film director Constantine Giannaris (Man at Sea), Italian producer Marta Donzelli (Sworn Virgin), German film editor and critic Tobias Kniebe (Sueddeutsche Zeitung), and Danish casting director Rie Hedegaard (Dancer in the Dark). This group of film insiders and experts in their field will select the ten most promising young actors from across Europe, as the 2016 EUROPEAN SHOOTING STARS.

As part of an annual process EFP member organisations from across Europe have been nominating their most promising acting talent for jury consideration. The lucky ten will be selected in December, ahead of travelling to the upcoming Berlin International Film Festival, which runs February 11 - 21, 2016. Financial support for the SHOOTING STARS event is granted by the Creative Europe - MEDIA Programme of the European Union and the participating EFP members.

EUROPEAN SHOOTING STARS – now in its 18th year – continues to be a unique Europe-wide initiative which spotlights young acting talent, across all genres and emerging film markets. The annual unveiling of these ten gifted performers at one of the biggest film festivals of the year, the Berlinale, puts emerging talent at the forefront of the film industry.

The numerous events held at the Berlinale across the first weekend of the festival, allow the SHOOTING STARS the opportunity to network with industry professionals and the international media at large. Workshops, meetings, receptions, press roundtables offer an unprecedented insight into the industry for the stars of tomorrow and the chance to establish relationships that will often prove invaluable. The highlight of this three-day-event is the annual awards ceremony, where each actor is honoured with the SHOOTING STARS AWARD on the main festival stage, donated by Tesiro.

For more information about EUROPEAN SHOOTING STARS 2016, please go to Shooting Stars online.

Members of the Jury EUROPEAN SHOOTING STARS 2016:

Marta Donzelli (Producer – Italy) is one of Italy’s most successful producers of independent films. With “Vivo Film”, established in 2004 together with Gregorio Paonessa, she has produced more than 30 titles to date. Many of her films have been selected and awarded at the most prestigious international film festivals, including Sworn Virgin by Laura Bispuri (Berlinale Competition 2015), A Street In Palermo by Emma Dante (Venice Competition 2014), Le Quattro Volte by Michelangelo Frammartino (Cannes, Director’s Fortnight 2010). In 2011 Donzelli participated in “Producers on the Move” at Cannes. She is a member of the Editorial Board at Donzelli Publishing House.

Constantine Giannaris (Director – Greece) Based in Athens, Constantine Giannaris works as an independent filmmaker in the UK and Greece. Several of his films have been screened at international film festivals and forums. His first UK feature 3 Steps to Heaven competed in Cannes’ Director’s Fortnight in 1995. The following films have all been selected for Berlinale sections: From the Edge of the City (Panorama-1999), One Day in August (Competition-2002), Hostage (Panorama Special-2005) and Man At Sea (Panorama Special-2011). His new feature film Spring Awakening is in post-production.

Rie Hedegaard (Casting Director – Denmark) has cast films for some of the most exciting Danish and international film directors working today, amongst them Lars von Trier (Dancer In The Dark, Breaking The Waves), Thomas Vinterberg (The Celebration, Submarino), Anders Thomas Jensen (Men & Chicken), Ole Christian Madsen (Itsi Bitsi, Flame & Citron), Christoffer Boe (Sex, Drugs & Taxation), Per Fly (Pelle, the Conqueror II) and Mikkel Nørgaard (The Keeper Of Lost Causes). Since 2002, she has taught at the Danish Government Acting Schools and is a member of the ICDN.

Tobias Kniebe (Editor/Critic – Germany) is the film editor for Germany’s highly respected newspaper, Sueddeutsche Zeitung. Kniebe studied Journalism, Philosophy and Political Science at Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. Aside from his work as a film critic, he has made documentaries for Bavarian Television, co-written the feature film Fremder Freund with Elmar Fischer (2003) and published a study of Germany’s military resistance movement against Hitler, “Operation Walküre” (2009). In 2010, Kniebe received the prestigious Reporterpreis Award for his profile of maverick German film director Klaus Lemke.

Anamaria Marinca (Actress and Shooting Star 2008 – Romania) is an internationally regarded and multi-awarded actress who made her silver screen acting debut in 2007 as the lead in Cristian Mungiu’s Golden Palm-winning drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. She then worked with Radu Muntean on Boogie and with Julie Delpy on The Countess. She played one of the main parts in Storm by Hans-Christian Schmid which was selected for the 2009 Berlinale Competition. Marinca has since also starred in several US productions such as Europa Report by Sebastian Cordero, Look, Stranger by Arielle Javitch and Fury by David Ayer. She also had leading roles in BBC hit dramas, The Missing with James Nesbitt and River with Stellan Skarsgard. Presently, she is based in London. 

EFP is financially supported by the Creative Europe-MEDIA Programme of the European Union and by its member organisations. The Hamburg-based office is backed by the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the Ministry of Culture of the City of Hamburg and the Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein. EFP's programme SHOOTING STARS moreover is backed by various partners such as TESiRO, the main sponsor of EUROPEAN SHOOTING STARS 2016.