This year’s European Shooting Stars event, an initiative organised by European Film Promotion (EFP) to promote promising acting talents from 37 member states, took place online from 23rd to 25th February prior to the industry-exclusive digital Berlinale programme in March.
As part of the online event, ten acting talents were selected by an international jury, that included US casting director and ICDN member Cassandra Han, Kosovan director Antoneta Kastrati and Danish producer René Ezra.
The programme also included three panels specifically on casting:
- EQUITY IN CASTING, moderated by Imran Khan, Head of Development, Big Window Production, included New York Casting Director Aleta Chappelle, European-based American casting director and ICDN member Cassandra Han and London, Berlin and Istanbul based talent agent and actor Olgu Caglar.
- THE ART OF CASTING, moderated by actress and talent agent Caprice Crawford, focused on two recent award-nominated productions: Bridgerton and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Both productions were cast by ICDN members – Kelly Valentine Hendry (Bridgerton) and Avy Kaufman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) – who discussed the particular casting processes for these projects.
- CASTING FOR PRODUCERS, a question and answer session for producers and directors with ICDN members Timka Grin and Luci Lenox, as well as casting director Nicci Topping and Gary Broughton from Spotlight.
All three panel sessions are available to watch online:
ICDN is very grateful for our long collaboration with EFP. We would like to thank all the organisers and sponsors for including us in such an amazing programme each year.
EUROPEAN SHOOTING STARS is an important event for enabling international careers for acting talent. Shooting Stars of recent years include Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman, The Great Gatsby), Oscar-winner Alicia Vikander (Tomb Raider), Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones), Riz Ahmed (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Mogul Mowgli) and George MacKay (1917).