It’s that time of year again when the European Film Promotion has announced the ten up-and-coming European acting talents selected for the 28th edition of European Shooting Stars.
Presented to the international press, film industry, and public during the 75th Berlinale (13–23 February 2025). As part of this initiative, the actors will participate in a tailor-made, four-day programme – substantially supported by Creative Europe’s MEDIA Programme of the European Union – that will peak with the European Shooting Stars Awards Ceremony on 17 February 2025 at the Berlinale Palast.
Selected by an international jury, comprised of Romanian director and screenwriter Radu Muntean, Swedish casting director Pauline Hansson, Swiss producer Amel Soudani, French actress and former Shooting Star Ludivine Sagnier and Montenegrin journalist and curator Vuk Perović. The five experts recognised the talents‘ remarkable potential for an international career, citing several factors, including their outstanding work in feature films and drama series.
With Cyprus and Montenegro represented in the programme for the first time, here are the European Shooting Stars for 2025.
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Marina Makris is a well-known Cypriot performer, recently crowned Best Actress at the Cyprus Film Days International Festival, for her striking performance in Adonis Floridis’s compelling drama ‘Africa Star’ (2024). The jury is attracted by her “Mediterranean magnetism” and honours Makris as a “brilliant, intelligent actress – she has an intense, profound look, and carries with her a womanly strength, as though she can carry the world on her shoulders.”
Besir Zeciri from Denmark reflects a new diverse wave of Scandinavian actors. Having once considered a career in the police force, Zeciri had his attention diverted when joining a theatre company in 2009. From there his career has blossomed, culminating in a leading role in Magnus von Horn’s ‘The Girl with the Needle’ (2024), which premiered at Cannes, and is Denmark’s official Oscar entry. The jury lauds his “real presence in the film which ensures the audience will struggle to forget him.”
German actress Devrim Lingnau was born in Mannheim, to a Turkish father, and a German mother. Lingnau impressed in British horror flick Carmilla (2019) and she is also the face of The Emmy-winning Netflix drama series The Empress (2022), which won her the Best Newcomer award at the German Screen Actor Awards. Her next major role is in Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay’s thriller Hysteria (2025), in which, according to the jury, ‟she is so involved in the character and yet you don’t see any tools, or techniques, it’s as if she is living in the moment, like she hasn’t read a script, just embedded in the truth of the story.”
Maarja Johanna Mägi is well-known to Estonian audiences, appealing to both adults and children on local television. She became known for her role in Elmo Nüganen’s film trilogy Melchior the Apothecary (2022), for which Mägi was awarded Best Film Actress at the Estonian Film Awards. The jury praised her versatility, especially in her latest film ‘Aurora’ (2025): “She has so many faces, but you can see the disturbed character on each of them. Her role comes with religious rigidity, transpiring in her emancipation as she inspires a revolution inside her own family, and she portrays this with the strength of a hurricane.“
Elín Hall from Iceland began to showcase her ability in the likes of Let Me Fall (2018), and Cold (2023). Her performance exploring the complexity of grief in Rúnar Rúnarsson’s ‘When the Light Breaks’ (2024), which opened the Un Certain Regard strand at Cannes 2024, has awarded her numerous awards. Hall “internalises the character and you’re drawn to her; you never get tired of her. She is carrying a secret in the film, and it’s like the viewer is her sole confidante“, as the five film experts concluded. Elín also straddles the line between music and film, with two albums already to her name.
Latvian actor Kārlis Arnolds Avots is building a career through unique and challenging roles. Having starred in Viesturs Kairisš’s January (2022), which was submitted as Latvia’s official entry for the Academy Awards, it won Avots the Best Actor award at the Rome Film Festival in 2022. Besides further international recognition, with the actor taking home the top actor prize at Series Mania in Lille, for his performance in ‘Soviet Jeans’ (2024) which also convinced the jury: “His performance (…) shows that he is equally as adept at comedy as he is a tragedy, as he brings humour to the role, but he suffers a lot. He is energetic and yet sensitive.”
The Lithuanian actor Šarūnas Zenkevičius has already starred in films at numerous international festivals: Frost (2017) premiered at Cannes, and The Flood Won’t Come (2020) in Venice. Other notable works include the short film I Was Max (2022) and his leading role in Ignas Jonynas’s ‘Borderline’ (2025) where he plays a troubled ornithologist, who gets involved in smuggling. His performance has overwhelmed the jury: “While the intensity rises in the film, he keeps all that tension inside him, without bursting. It’s very easy to be melodramatic, which he avoids. Instead, he contains all the energy, and he is like a bomb that is waiting to explode.”
Lidija Kordić from Montenegro started acting professionally while still studying at drama school. With a starring turn in Working Class Goes to Hell (2023) on home soil, to Turkish production Ataturk 1881-1919 (2023), Kordić can next be seen adorning the screen in the Italian feature ‘Diva Futura’ (2025). The jury considers Kordić courageous and praises her “charming and charismatic performance“ in this sumptuous period piece that sees the actress play the famous adult film star, Cicciolina.
Portuguese actor Vicente Wallenstein has taken a starring role in Luis Filipe Rocha’s ‘Your Face Will be the Last,’ which also allowed him to display his talents as a pianist. The jury recognises Wallenstein’s “richness of diverse characters and his distinct versatility” and lauds his performance for “displaying the struggles and trauma within his character with a subtle sensitivity.“ Last year, Wallenstein appeared in both ‘Romagem’ and ‘After Dance,’ a concert film. He also enjoyed a shorter experience, in ‘Paddington in Peru.’
Frida Gustavsson hails from Sweden and belongs to the Bergmanian school of performance. This much is evident in her uniquely complex turn as Marieanne in the drama series ‘Faithless’ (2024), which is based on an original script by the legendary filmmaker, resulting in rave reviews since its premiere at TIFF. The jury, who characterises her as a “charismatic and magnetic performer” is also full of praise: “Even when doing nothing she is vibrant. Her performance in Faithless presents a difficult challenge, but she tackles the role with such subtlety and intimacy. She uses minimalistic ways to express very strong feelings.” Other screen credits include supporting roles in major shows such as ‘Vikings: Valhalla’ (2022), and Netflix’s ‘The Witcher’ (2019). Gustavsson also impressed in Swedish Oscar-entry ‘Tigers’ (2020), while her next project sees her share the screen with Joel Kinnaman, in ‘Ice Fall’ (2025).
Throughout its 28 years, European Shooting Stars has been an important stepping-stone for the selected talent’s international careers – notable Shooting Stars over the years include: Riz Ahmed, Matilda de Angelis, Asta Kamma August, Suzy Bemba, Leonie Benesch, George MacKay, Carey Mulligan, Benedetta Porcaroli, Alba Rohrwacher, Bill Skarsgård, Vic Carmen Sonne, Anamaria Vartolomei, Oscar-winner Alicia Vikander and Maisie Williams.
With a four-day intensive, customised programme, European Shooting Stars provides an international networking platform for the selected talent to meet international journalists, casting directors, producers and filmmakers while in Berlin. It offers a unique opportunity to create a professional network encouraging and strengthening the talents to embark on an international career. The programme culminates in a ceremony at the Berlinale Palast on Monday 17 February, where each actress and actor will be honoured with the European Shooting Stars Award.
