Shooting Stars moves with Michael Ballhaus as new President

After 10 successful years, European Film Promotion (EFP) has changed the concept for SHOOTING STARS: for the first time, EFP has appointed a jury of prominent industry figures to select the best nine from a variety of talented up-and-coming actors from the most diverse of European countries. They will be presented as SHOOTING STARS to an international professional audience during the 58th Berlin International Film Festival in 2008. 22 EFP member countries have each nominated an actor. The jury will make its decision at the beginning of December.

The presidency of the international jury has been taken on by Michael Ballhaus (Germany), one of the world's most successful cinematographers (GOODFELLAS, THE DEPARTED), who worked for many years in the USA with such directors as Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola. His colleagues are: actress Lucy Russell (SHOOTING STAR UK 2002), producer Vibeke Windeløv (Denmark), personal manager Derek Power (USA) and casting director Beatrice Kruger (Italy).

„I am very pleased to be closely involved in the choice of the nine European SHOOTING STARS for 2008“, says Michael Ballhaus. „Europe is so rich in excellent young actors and actresses who unfortunately are often only known in their native countries. The goal of EFP to make the best actors from 22 European countries known internationally is something that I think is very important. The United States – where I worked for very many years – has an exemplarily functioning star system at its disposal – developing something similar in Europe would help the film industry here a lot.“

Lucy Russell (L'ANGLAISE ET LE DUC by Eric Rohmer, ANGEL by François Ozon) is thrilled to be able to pass on the experiences she could make as the British Shooting Star in 2002: „Five years ago I was selected as UK Shooting Star and found it an amazing experience. I gained a much wider perspective on the existing scope and quality of European cinema and the incredible potential of the European film industry. I met inspirational people and made many invaluable contacts. I’m extremely proud to be on the jury for this year’s Shooting Stars selection and am delighted to be in a position to advise my colleagues how to take utmost advantage of this accolade. What I really appreciate is that SHOOTING STARS is not simply an award with a statuette, indeed, there is much more to it than being in the spotlight for one evening. It really gives you the chance to talk to key people from the film industry that you’d otherwise find difficult to meet and you can build up an inestimable network for your future career.”

In the past ten years, the SHOOTING STARS project has developed into a label and become a talent exchange for actors from all over Europe. Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, Ludivine Sagnier, and Franka Potente were among the SHOOTING STARS in previous years.

„Apart from the new selection criteria and the establishment of an international jury, we would like to support the SHOOTING STARS even more intensively in their international career,“ stresses EFP managing director Renate Rose. „We have therefore planned a series of events, such as master classes, which are specially conceived for the SHOOTING STARS 2008 and will present them with their films at other festivals within Europe. Moreover, we are working on a website for SHOOTING STARS – with many services for European actors.“ Also planned are the presentation of the Studio Hamburg Shooting Stars Award on the stage of the Berlinale Palast, a party with important decision-makers from the film industry, a speed dating with international casting directors, and an international press conference.


The SHOOTING STARS project is supported by the MEDIA Programme of the EU, the EFP member countries, Volkswagen and Studio Hamburg International Production. In 2008, SHOOTING STARS will be shuttled with the Volkswagen Tiguan.

For more information on Shooting Stars please have a look at: www.efp-online.com


Jury SHOOTING STARS 2008

Michael Ballhaus is one of the world’s most successful cinematographers. He shot more than 80 feature films and worked with the greatest directors in Germany and the US, amongst them Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Martin Scorsese, Mike Nichols, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Redford and Wolfgang Petersen. His best known films are THE MARRIAGE OF MARIA BRAUN (1979), THE COLOR OF MONEY (1986), BROADCAST NEWS (1987), THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS (1989), GOODFELLAS (1990), BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA (1992), OUTBREAK (1995), GANGS OF NEW YORK (2002) and THE DEPARTED (2006). He got three »Academy Award Nominations« for his films. In 2006 he was the first German to receive the »American Society of Cinematographers International Achievement Award« – the most important award for a non-American cinematographer. In December the European Film Academy will present Michael Ballhaus with the EUROPEAN ACHIEVEMENT IN WORLD CINEMA 2007 – Prix Screen International.

Lucy Russell was chosen as the UK Shooting Star in 2002. This followed her critically acclaimed performance as Grace Eliot in Eric Rohmer’s L'ANGLAISE ET LE DUC, which was presented at both the Venice and New York Film Festivals. Four years prior to this, her first significant film role had been as the enigmatic Blonde in the award-winning thriller, FOLLOWING, by Christopher Nolan (who went on to direct MEMENTO, as well as BATMAN BEGINS, in which Lucy also stars). In 2003 Lucy was cast in the multi award-winning I AM DAVID, directed by Paul Feig. In the same year she was cast in Dominique Deruddere's film POUR LE PLAISIR and Pierre-Erwan Guillaume's L'ENNEMI NATUREL, and followed this with a part in Kevin Reynolds' TRISTAN + ISOLDE. In 2007 François Ozon cast Lucy in his first English-language film, ANGEL, in which she has a major part opposite Romola Garai, Sam Neill, Charlotte Rampling and Michael Fassbender. ANGEL had its World Premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in 2007, and its UK Premiere at the London Film Festival. At the end of 2007 Lucy will also be seen in Warner Bros' FRED CLAUS, directed by David Dobkins, appearing opposite Vince Vaughan, Paul Giamatti, Kevin Spacey and Rachel Weisz.

Vibeke Windeløv is one of Europe’s most successful and acclaimed producers, with a feature film credit list including all of Lars von Trier’s films from 1993 to 2006 (amongst them BREAKING THE WAVES, DANCER IN THE DARK, DOGVILLE, MANDERLAY). Furthermore she produced Bille August’s IN MY LIFE, Gabriel Axel’s CHRISTIAN, Jorgen Leth’s HAITI EXPRESS, Susanne Bier’s FAMILY MATTERS & OPEN HEARTS and Kristian Levring’s THE KING IS ALIVE (Dogma 4). In 2007 she is co-producing MAMMOTH, directed by Lukas Moodysson. 1998-2004 Vibeke Windeløv has been a member of the board of the European Film Academy and has also been a jury member on many festivals, among others the Venice film festival 2001 and the Montreal Film Festival 2006. She was furthermore instrumental in establishing the production companies Liberator in France and Pain Unlimited in Germany and is executive chairman of Copenhagen Bombay Productions.

Beatrice Kruger is a European casting director based in Rome. Amongst other films she cast MY MOTHER’S SMILE and GOOD MORNING NIGHT (Marco Bellocchio), LARK’S FARM (Paolo and Vittorio Taviani), EL ALAMEIN (Enzo Monteleone), FUORI DAL MONDO (Giuseppe Piccioni), FERIE D’AGOSTO (Paolo Virzì). She is responsible for the European and/or Italian casting of MIRACLE AT ST. ANNA, ASTERIX AUX JEUX OLYMPIQUE, SILK, THE INTERNATIONAL, CASINO ROYALE, OCEAN’S TWELVE, HBO’s ROME and many others. Beatrice Kruger has always been involved with the discovery and promotion of new acting talent. She is founding member of the Italian UIC, the International Casting Directors Network, the Italian Film Academy and the European Film Academy. Recently Beatrice Kruger developed the idea and concept for www.e-talenta.eu a multi-language interactive web portal which gives international visibility to professional actors in Europe and helps anyone involved with the casting process to find the right actor for the right part.

Derek Power is a personal manager and producer with an eclectic client mix of actors, directors, writers, and film composers. As a talent manager, Power enjoys a reputation as a specialist in the representation of Eurocentric talent, and among many he has helped guide are Academy Award winning actor Ben Kingsley, and actress Greta Scacchi (FLIGHT PLAN, THE PLAYER). Recent Power sponsored clients include Austrian director Robert Dornhelm (WAR AND PEACE, ANNE FRANK) and Swiss director Claudio Faeh (HOLLOW MAN 2, CORONADO) UK actor Graham McTavish (JOHN RAMBO, ROME), Jennifer Rae Westley (I'M NOT THERE, ELVIS), and Romanian Maia Morgenstern (PASSION OF THE CHRIST). Based in West Hollywood, California, Power has made eight films as producer or executive producer, including the POLICE founder/drummer Stewart Copeland's EVERYONE STARES, a 2006 Sundance premiere, as well as Peter Weir's THE LAST WAVE and Dennis Hopper's THE HOT SPOT. As Copeland's longtime manager he is intimately involved in THE POLICE's huge reunion world tour. He has produced a series for Showtime, numerous videos and has participated in the sale and distribution internationally of more than 100 other motion pictures including films produced by Dino de Laurentiis as well as Weir's PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK. He has acted as Executive Music Producer for a number of films, particularly HIGHLANDER, with its landmark multiplatinum selling score composed by Queen and Michael Kamen, while notable composing clients include Michael Nyman (GATTACA, THE PIANO).

SHOOTING STARS in Berlin is sponsored by: Volkswagen and Studio Hamburg International Production EFP is financially supported by: MEDIA Programme of the European Union