This year’s EFP Shooting Stars are in Berlin ready to meet — and impress — the international film industry.
European Film Promotion’s Shooting Stars 2025 sees 10 more up-and-coming actors from around Europe arrive in Berlin, ready to impress international producers and filmmakers.
Closest to home is German actress Devrim Lingnau, who garnered international acclaim for her leading role in Netflix’s The Empress and will next be seen in Mehmet Akif Buyukatalay’s thriller Hysteria, which is screening in Berlin’s Panorama.
Denmark’s Besir Zeciri impressed this year’s jury in his country’s Oscar-nominated The Girl With The Needle, having made a name at home in crime series Outlaw. Also representing Scandinavia is Frida Gustavsson, the Swedish actress who has had roles in two major Netflix series — The Witcher and Vikings: Valhalla — and stars alongside Joel Kinnaman in the upcoming thriller Ice Fall. Joining them is Canada-born, Iceland-based Elin Hall, star of last year’s Cannes Un Certain Regard title When The Light Breaks, which went on to pick up Göteborg’s best Nordic film award.
Two actresses are representing their respective countries for the first time in Shooting Stars history. Montenegro’s Lidija Kordic, best known for her starring role in Giulia Louise Steigerwalt’s Italian porn industry drama and Venice premiere Diva Futura, and Cyprus’s Marina Makris, who had a key role in the 2024 drama Africa Star.
This year’s selection also has a strong showing from Eastern Europe. Hailing from Latvia is Karlis Arnolds Avots, winner of Series Mania’s top acting prize last year for comedy series Soviet Jeans. Having impressed with smaller roles in Frost (Cannes, 2017) and The Flood Won’t Come (Venice, 2020), Lithuania’s Sarunas Zenkevicius takes centre stage for the first time in Ignas Jonynas’s upcoming feature Borderline. Estonian actress Maarja Johanna Magi also takes on her first leading role, in religious drama Aurora, having previously featured in Elmo Nuganen’s Melchior trilogy.
Rounding out the line-up is Portuguese actor Vicente Wallenstein, who had a busy 2024 with roles in Paddington In Peru,
Romagem and After Dance — A Concert Film, and was the lead in Luis Filipe Rocha’s Your Face Will Be The Last.
This year’s selection was made by a jury comprising Romanian filmmaker Radu Muntean, Swedish casting director Pauline Hansson, French actress and 2001 Shooting Star Ludivine Sagnier, Swiss producer Amel Soudani and Montenegrin journalist Vuk Perovic.
Previous Shooting Stars include Riz Ahmed, Leonie Benesch, George MacKay, Carey Mulligan, Benedetta Porcaroli, Alicia Vikander, Anamaria Vartolomei and Alba Rohrwacher.
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