February 18, 2025
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By Tina Jøhnk Christense
Yearly, the Berlin Movie Competition hosts 10 younger European actors chosen for the Taking pictures Stars program run by European Movie Promotion. This yr, three Scandinavian actors had been celebrated because the up-and-coming European performing expertise to regulate: Danish Besir Zeciri, Icelandic Elín Corridor and Swedish Frida Gustavsson.
Past Taking pictures Stars embrace Alicia Vikander, Daniel Brühl, Daniel Craig, and Maisie Williams, who’ve gone on to profitable worldwide careers. This doesn’t go unnoticed by its members.
“Alicia is someone that I’ve appeared as much as and who has been a type of trailblazer for different Scandinavian abilities,” says Frida Gustavsson by way of a Zoom name from Berlin about her fellow countrywoman, who was a Taking pictures Star in 2011. “I’ve been following the Taking pictures Star program ever since I began my profession and I’ve seen the type of trampoline impact that it had on the members’ careers. It’s one thing I’ve labored in the direction of and now with a venture like Faithless that’s so large in its scope, the time feels proper.”
The Swedish actress, finest identified for her position as Freydís Eiríksdóttir, a Viking warrior, within the Netflix sequence Vikings: Valhalla (2022–2024), performs the seductive Marianne Vogler in Tomas Alfredson’s drama sequence Faithless. The sequence relies on an authentic script by Ingmar Bergman and is a story of friendship, lust and the implications of adultery.
“I believe Bergman’s presence was there with us once we had been taking pictures,” Frida Gustavsson says about Faithless. “Rising up, I liked Bergman. Watching Autumn Sonata modified my life and made me wish to be an actor. He created these extremely complicated girls and it was unhappy for me that he handed earlier than I had the prospect to work with him, so to have the ability to do that sequence was priceless.”
This yr the three Scandinavians are joined by their European colleagues Maria Makris from Cyprus, Maarja Johanna Mägi from Estonia, Devrim Lingnau from Germany, Kārlis Arnolds Avots from Latvia, Šarūnas Zenkevičius from Lithuania, Lidija Kordić from Montenegro and Vicente Wallenstein from Portugal. They are going to all take part in a four-day program which incorporates workshops, conferences with casting administrators, and introductions to the worldwide press.
“It is rather helpful and an important networking platform for us,” says Danish actor Zeciri by way of a Zoom name from Berlin. “And it additionally means quite a bit that someone says ‘We consider in you. You’re a taking pictures star.’ That’s positively a motivating issue.“
The 34-year-old actor is not any stranger to awards. He received the Danish Robert Award in 2022 for Greatest Actor in a number one position for his efficiency in Laurits Flensted-Jensen’s TV sequence Outlaw (2021). The Taking pictures Stars recognition comes at a time, when Swedish director Magnus von Horn’s movie The Woman with the Needle, which was nominated within the Non-English language class at this yr’s Golden Globes, is up for an Oscar. It’s a fictionalized crime-horror based mostly on an actual Danish baby-killer case from the Nineteen Twenties and Zeciri performs a soldier who’s scared and traumatized by warfare.
“The Taking pictures Star recognition means you get lots of consideration internationally and hopefully that results in extra worldwide initiatives,” says Zeciri. “And all of it appears to occur on the identical time, so I’m positively having a second, which may be very thrilling.”
For Icelandic Elín Corridor, additionally it is necessary to community with the opposite 9 actors in this system.
“I’ve spoken with a number of the former Taking pictures Stars and everybody tells me that they make associates for all times,” says Corridor by way of a Zoom name from Berlin. “They make nice connections which might be useful professionally and privately and attend one another’s weddings and I simply really feel very fortunate to have the ability to join with my friends.”
Corridor can at the moment be seen as Una in Icelandic director Rúnar Rúnarsson’s coming-of-age movie When the Gentle Breaks. Una is a drama scholar, whose life is turned the other way up, when her secret lover Diddi (Baldur Einarsson) will get in a automobile accident. The movie, which is about coping with loss, simply celebrated its launch in France with a premiere in Paris.
“It has simply been loopy,” she says about her experiences since When the Gentle Breaks premiered in Cannes final yr. “I’ve been touring world wide with the movie and I’ve met so many individuals. I now have an agent in London and I’ve spent lots of time auditioning and now I’m additionally a Taking pictures Star.”
Having damaged out as a troubled teen in acclaimed Icelandic movie Let Me Fall (2018), Corridor has been performing steadily for a couple of decade and was just lately seen because the younger Vigdís Finnbogadóttir earlier than she grew to become the primary feminine Prime Minister in Iceland within the Icelandic TV-series Vigdís. She hopes that her profession will take a brand new flip with the Taking pictures Star recognition.
“Sure, completely,” the Icelandic actor says about creating a global profession. “I believe all actors dream about attending to work with nice folks and Iceland is small and the alternatives are fairly restricted. And I actually love European cinema, so that is an thrilling alternative.”
Frida Gustavsson is at the moment engaged on a “large” American venture that’s but to be introduced, and she or he is prepared for extra.
“I really like Bergman and European cinema, however I might positively not flip it down, if Hollywood begins calling,” she says.
As for Zeciri, he has no doubts what he wish to obtain. He already has a number one position in an upcoming movie but to be introduced. However he hopes there’s extra to come back within the close to future.
“I wish to be the villain within the subsequent James Bond movie,” the Dane says with an enormous smile. “I all the time dreamt about that. That’s my most important objective. And I wish to have an important worldwide profession.”