2024 European Shooting Stars Unveiled

European Film Promotion has announced the 10 up-and-coming European acting talents for its 2024 European Shooting Stars list.

The actors, which include performers from this year’s award-season contenders Poor Things, Ferrari, and The Peasants, among others, will be lauded at the Berlin International Film Festival in February, next year.

The Shooting Stars class of 2024 includes:

Suzy Bemba (France)

French actress Suzy Bemba, who plays a Parisian sex worker who befriends Emma Stone’s character in Poor Things, and whose credits include standout roles in Anthony Chen’s Sundance film Drift and Catherine Corsini’s Homecoming.

Valentina Bellè (Italy)

Valentina Bellè from Italy, who plays Cecilia Manzini in Michael Mann’s Ferarri, won Italy’s Nastro D’Argento award for best supporting actress for her turn in Disney+ mafia drama The Good Mothers and has appeared in Disney+ series Genius: Picasso with Antonio Banderas and Hulu’s Catch-22 miniseries alongside George Clooney.

Kamila Urzędowska (Poland)

Polish actress Kamila Urzędowska, the star of The Peasants, Poland’s official contender for the 2024 Oscar in the best international feature category. Her other credits include the Polish crime series 25 Years of Innocence and Morderczynie.

Asta Kamma August (Sweden)

Asta Kamma August, the daughter of Fanny and Alexander and Star Wars: Episode One actress Pernilla August and Oscar-winning director Bille August (Pelle The Conquerer), and sister of 2018 Shooting Star Alba August (Netflix’s The Rain), this Swedish talent has made her mark in Scandi TV series such as The Pact and Blackwater, and features like Ernst De Geer’s The Hypnosis and Isabella Eklöf’s Kalak.

Thibaud Dooms (Belgium)

Thibaud Dooms from Belgium has made waves with films like Koen Mortier’s Skunk, playing a teenager desperate to escape his violent home life, and Domien Huyghe’s family drama Zeevonk, which premiered in Berlin’s Generation sidebar this year.

Džiugas Grinys (Lithuania)

Džiugas Grinys from Lithuania appeared in Kristijonas Vildziunas’ Songs for a Fox and in Algimantas Puipa’s Sinefilija, both in 2021, and plays the leading role in the Robertas Kuliunas-directed comedy Aš Gyvas and in Ignas Miškinis’ upcoming feature Southern Chronicles.

Margarita Stoykova (Bulgaria)

Margarita Stoykova, Bulgaria’s Shooting Star trained as a dancer before her breakout role in Yana Titova’s Dyad, which won best film at the Tallinn Film Festival this year.

Salome Demuria (Georgia)

Salome Demuria, from Georgia, has attracted attention for her performances in Dito Tsintsadze’s Inhale-Exhale, which won her the best actress honor at the 2019 Shanghai Film Festival, and in Rusudan Glurjidze’s House of Others (2016). Her next starring role is in Glurjidze’s upcoming feature The Antique.

Katharina Stark (Germany)

German actress Katharina Stark has built up an impressive resume of TV roles, most recently in the acclaimed Hulu series The Interpreter of Silence; and on the big screen in features like Anna Roller’s Dead Girls Dancing, which premiered at Tribeca this year.

Éanna Hardwicke (Ireland)

Éanna Hardwicke from Ireland starred alongside Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots in Lorcan Finnegan’s Vivarium, with Timothy Spall in the BBC miniseries The Sixth Commandment and played the lead in Robert Higgins’ and Patrick McGivney’ Lakelands. His next project is the limited series A Very Royal Scandal with Michael Sheen and Ruth Wilson.

The 10 Shooting Stars will attend the 2024 Berlin Film Festival for a series of networking events to meet directors, producers and agents and be introduced to the international press.

The Shooting Stars program has an impressive hit rate in picking breakout talent. Among the past “before they were famous” Shooting Stars selections include Alicia Vicander, Daniel Brühl, Michaela Coel, Luca Marinelli, Riz Ahmed, Bill Skarsgård and Carey Mulligan.