Young acting talent to present their films in Spain (4 12 November 2005)

It’s a unique opportunity for both the actors and the audience. At the Seville Film Festival (412 November) visitors and press will have the chance to meet a group of 10 of this year’s Shooting Stars (from a total of 21), selected by the member organisations of European Film Promotion (EFP). For the weekend (4 6 November 2005) the actors will be spotlighted with their latest films. Thus they are directly involved in the promotion of their films and help to support their distribution in Spain. Never before has a festival screened this many European films starring a Shooting Stars in a special Shooting Stars section.

Seville is the second festival to present this year’s Touring Shooting Stars Film Programme, following the introduction of selected Shooting Stars in Sétubal (Portugal) in May. The programme invites a number of promising young actors to international film festivals and gives them exposure to new audiences. The Spanish Shooting Star 2005, Unax Ugalde, will act as host and welcome the other young actors in his home country.

“For Seville Film Festival”, says Manuel Grosso, contest director, “it is an honor to be the first Spanish Festival to recognize the importance of the young acting professionals in the audience´s reception of European film.”“

Corresponding to EFP’s mandate, the Seville Film Festival aims to spread and promote European cinema and its creators. With its programme of more than 150 films the Seville Film Festival offers the audience a unique opportunity to see contemporary movies from different European countries that rarely find distribution in Spain. One special section called “Europe-Europe” is devoted to show the films selected by the European Film Academy for the European Film Awards 2005.

Since 1998, when EFP first introduced Shooting Stars during the Berlin International Film Festival, the programme has steadily gained recognition throughout Europe. Following up on this success, EFP launched the Touring Shooting Stars Film Programme in 2002. Supported by the MEDIA Programme of the EU, the tour employs a concept and promotional platform similar to that in Berlin: the actors and their films are presented to the press and the local audiences with the aim of increasing the awareness of European films and talent.

Many of the 148 young actors and actresses who have participated in the Shooting Stars programme since its inception have benefited directly from the initiative. It has raised their degree of fame in their own countries and allowed them to make a name for themselves on an international level. Several of them have gone on to act in productions in other countries as well.

The next generation of SHOOTING STARS will be introduced from the 10th to the 12th of February at the Berlin International Film Festival 2006.

Participating Shooting Stars and their films at the Seville Film Festival:

Aleksandra Balmazoviæ, Slovenia, Red Coloured Grey Truck, Srdjan Koljevic
Johanna Bantzer, Switzerland, Strähl, Manuel Flurin Hendry
Jakob Cedergren, Denmark Stealing Rembrandt , Jannik Johansen
Dorka Gryllus, Hungary, Dallas Among US, Róbert Pejó
Monic Hendrickx, Netherlands, Zus & Zo, Paula van der Oest
Mark O’Halloran, Ireland, H3, Les Blair
Kari-Pekka Toivonen, Finland, Producing Adults, Aleksi Salmenperä
Unax Ugalde, Spain, Cold Winter Sun, Pablo Malo
Marie Vinck, Belgium, The Kiss, Hilde Van Mieghem
Franziska Weisz, Austria, Dog Days, Ulrich Seidl