From 21 potential candidates, the jury selected the following Central Europeans: Zrinka Cvitešić (Croatia), Kryštof Hádek (Czech Republic), Agata Buzek (Poland), and Dragoş Bucur (Romania). Hádek's latest film, 3 Seasons in Hell, opened in the Czech Republic at the end of November. Buzek won the Best Actress award in Gdynia for her role in Reverse. Bucur stars in Romania's Oscar entry, Police, Adjective. Cvitešić most recently appeared in On the Path.

The jury included a former Shooting Star from the Czech Republic, Ana Geislerová, whose international career has blossomed since receiving the award, along with Karl Baumgartner (Germany - Producer), Leo Davis (UK - Casting Director), Steven Gaydos (USA - Publishing Editor), and Giuseppe Piccioni (Italy - Director).

In a statement, the jury said, "As we worked individually and then met as a group, it was clear to all of us on the jury that this was an unusually rich year for European acting talent. Choosing ten actors was both difficult and exciting. When we had completed our task we discovered that this was a strong year especially for talent from Central and Eastern Europe."

The remaining six actors chosen are: Pihla Viitala (Finland), Robert Sheehan (Ireland), Michele Riondino (Italy), Anders Baasmo Christiansen (Norway), Lotte Verbeek (The Netherlands) and Edward Hogg (United Kingdom).

The ten Shooting Stars will be introduced at a series of presentations, February 13-15, 2010, at the Berlin Film Festival.

The Shooting Stars (www.shooting-stars.eu) project is supported by the MEDIA Programme of the European Union and the participating EFP (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) member organisations.