European Film Promotion Unveils 2019 Shooting Stars

Aisling Franciosi (“The Nightingale”), Ardalan Esmaili (“The Charmer”) and Elliott Crosset Hove (“Winter Brothers”) are among the 10 actors and actresses who have been named as the European Film Promotion’s Shooting Stars.

Previous Shooting Stars include Alicia Vikander, Matthias Schoenaerts, Pilou Asbæk and Baltasar Kormákur. The new crop of up-and-coming talent for the 22nd edition of the program will be honored during the upcoming Berlin Film Festival.

Crosset Hove from Denmark won the best actor award at Locarno and a Robert prize (Denmark’s equivalent of the Oscars) for his performance in Hlynur Palmason’s “Winter Brothers.” The jury praised the actor for his “raw ability to shift from transparent vulnerability to intimidation.”

Franciosi, an Italian-born Irish actress, has been acclaimed for her performance in Jennifer Kent’s “The Nightingale,” which won two nods at the Venice Film Festival, including the Special Jury Prize. The jury said Franciosi, whose other credits include “Games of Thrones” and “Legends,” demonstrated “great acting range and superb instincts.”

Esmaili is a Swedish-Iranian actor who broke through with his role as an intriguing Iranian immigrant in Milad Alami’s psychological thriller “The Charmer.” The jury said Esmaili showed “tremendous honesty and leading-man qualities” in the film, which won prizes at San Sebastian, Goteborg and Chicago, among other festivals.

Macedonian actor Blagoj Veselinov from “Secret Ingredient,” Polish actor Dawid Ogrodnik from “Silent Night,” Norwegian actress Ine Marie Wilmann from “Sonja: The White Swan,” Estonian actress Rea Lest-Liik from “November,” German actress Emma Drogunova from “The Tobacconist,” Icelandic actress Kristín Thora Haraldsdóttir from “And Breathe Normally” and Serbian actor Milan Marić from “Dovlatov” round out the list of 2019 Shooting Stars.

The 2019 honorees were chosen by a jury comprising U.S. casting director Avy Kaufman, film critic Tara Karajica from Serbia, Macedonian director Teona Strugar Mitevska, producer Macdara Kelleher from Ireland and Ingvar Sigurdsson of Iceland, who was a Shooting Star in 1999.

The Berlin Film Festival will take place Feb. 7-17.