European Film Promotion (EFP) is delighted to announce this year’s jury for the 28th edition of EUROPEAN SHOOTING STARS at the Berlin International Film Festival (13 – 23 February 2025). Five renowned film professionals will select ten promising talents for the highly acclaimed programme which is supported by the Creative Europe – MEDIA Programme of the European Union and the participating national film promotion institutes, EFP’s member organisations.
With their combined expertise in various fields of the film industry five jury members will take on the task of selecting the ten most talented and internationally versatile up-and-coming actresses and actors from candidates who have been nominated by their national film promotion institutes and film centres.
Romanian jury member, Radu Muntean, is a director and screenwriter, whose films have premiered and been honored at festivals in Locarno, Sarajevo, Cannes and Toronto, such as The Paper will be Blue (2006), Tuesday After Christmas (2010), Alice T. (2018) and Intregalde (2021). He is joined by Swiss producer Amel Soudani, founder of the production company AMKA Films Productions. Her most recent productions include La Chimera by Alice Rohrwacher and the documentary L’Afriques les Femmes by Mohammed Soudani. French former European Shooting Star Ludivine Sagnier is best known for her roles in films by François Ozon. She starred, amongst others, in Water Drops on Burning Rocks (2000), 8 Women (2002) and Swimming Pool (2003) and she will also perform in François Ozon's latest film, Quand vient l'automne (2024). Sagnier has also worked with directors such as Pj Hogan, Lee Tamahori, Paolo Sorrentino, Hirokazu Koreeda and Ridley Scott. Pauline Hansson from Sweden has already caught the industry's attention twice for her work as a casting director. She was nominated for the 1st European Casting Award at the Locarno Film Festival in 2016 (Drifters by Peter Grönlund) and for the BAFTA in 2023 (Triangle of Sadness by Ruben Östlund). Pauline is currently working on Östlund’s second English-language feature film The Entertainment System is Down, shooting in 2025 and starring Keanu Reeves, Kirsten Dunst, Daniel Brühl, Nicholas Braun and Samantha Morton. The jury is rounded off by journalist and curator Vuk Perović from Montenegro. His journalistic work includes articles, radio and television features for various daily and weekly newspapers and broadcasters. Vuk is the author of the renowned TV show “The Seventh Continent” on cinema and film, a co-founder of UnderhillFest, an international documentary film festival and programmer of the Herceg Novi Film Festival - Montenegro Film Festival.
The ten EUROPEAN SHOOTING STARS 2025 will be announced in mid-December.
At the Berlin International Film Festival, the ten selected talents will take part in a four-day tailor made programme of networking, press activities and industry events, culminating in the glamorous Award Ceremony of the European Shooting Stars on stage at the Berlinale Palast.
For 28 years, European Film Promotion has presented its flagship programme EUROPEAN SHOOTING STARS at the Berlin International Film Festival – an initiative designed to discover and promote talented actresses and actors from throughout Europe to the international film scene and film industry.
For further information about the jury see below.
France
Ludivine Sagnier debuted at the age of nine in Husbands, Wives and Lovers (Pascal Thomasin, 1989). Standing out amongst a new generation of actors in François Ozon’s Water Drops on Burning Rocks she became European Shooting Star in 2001. Silver Bear winner, 8 Women brought her international recognition. Her filmography includes Love Songs (Christophe Honoré, 2007), A Girl Cut in Two (Claude Chabrol, 2007) and Swimming Pool (François Ozon, 2003). Sagnier has worked with directors Pj Hogan, Lee Tamahori, Paolo Sorrentino, Hirokazu Koreeda and Ridley Scott. She is involved in the series The Young Pope (HBO), Lupin (Netflix) and Franklin (Apple). In 2024, she starred in And Their Children After Them (Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma, 2024) and Quand vient l'automne (François Ozon, 2024).
Ludivine Sagnier
France
Romania
Radu Muntean graduated from the Theater and Film Academy in Bucharest in 1994. He has since become an acclaimed filmmaker. In 2006, he directed award-winning film The Paper will be Blue, in Competition at the Locarno International Film Festival. His films premiered at the Cannes International Film Festival such as Boogie (2008) and Intregalde (2021) in Directors’ Fortnight, Tuesday After Christmas (2010) and One Floor Below (2015) in the Official Selection of Un Certain Regard. Alice T. won Best Actress in 2018 in Locarno. Muntean was part of the Cannes Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury 2016.
Radu Muntean
Romania
Switzerland
Amel Soudani is a producer and communication specialist. In 2007, she co-founded Cinédokké after years in production. She oversaw digital communications for Expo2015 for the Swiss government and served as Head of Communication and Board Member of the Locarno Film Festival. Since 2020, she leads AMKA Films Productions. As member of the Swiss Cinema Academy and EAVE graduate, her co-productions include La Chimera (Alice Rohwacher, 2023), Nowhere (Simone Massi, 2023), Pure Unknown (Valentina Cicogna, Mattia Colombo, 2023), The Inner Cage (Leonardo Di Costanzo, 2021), and L’ Afrique des femmes (Mohammed Soudani, 2022) presented at major festivals and the series Alter Ego, distributed by Wild Bunch TV.
Amel Soudani
Switzerland
Montenegro
Film critic Vuk Perović is the co-founder, art director and programmer of the international documentary film festival, Underhill Fest. Moreover, he programmes the Herceg Novi film festival in Montenegro. Perović has been a jury member at various European film festivals, amongst them the international film critics organisations FEDEORA (Federation of Film Critics of Europe and the Mediterranean) and FIPRESCI. He has written articles about film and culture for various newspapers and web sites and is the founder of CIRCLE, a training programme for women in the documentary film industry.
Vuk Perović
Montenegro
Sweden
Casting Director Pauline Hansson won the attention of creative advisor Kalle Boman after she street-cast Drifters (Peter Grönlund, 2015) who recommended her to the renowned directors Roy Andersson and Ruben Östlund. Hansson values working with casting directors on international projects. She was nominated for BAFTA in 2023 with Palme D'Or winner Triangle Of Sadness (Ruben Östlund, 2022) and is currently involved in Östlund’s next feature The Entertainment System is Down (2025). Her work comprises Bergman Island (Mia Hanson Løve, 2021), Goliath (Peter Grönlund, 2018), The Square (Ruben Östlund, 2017) and the Netflix series Deliver Me (Anna Zackrissson, 2024).
Pauline Hansson
Sweden
