TIRANA TIMES
TIRANA, Dec. 20 – Albania’s Nik Xhelilaj has been selected as one of Europe’s top ten acting talents who will participate the 14th Shooting Stars showcase taking place February 12-14 at the 2011 Berlin International Film Festival, the European Film Promotion says.
Selected from a ‘longlist’ of 25 candidates proposed by member organisations of European Film Promotion (EFP), the ten young actors were chosen by a jury of established film industry professionals for their outstanding work in feature films. Shooting Stars is supported by the Media Programme of the European Union.
EFP’s annual platform is designed to provide an international showcase for emerging acting talent at the Berlinale, an essential date in the film industry calendar. The highlight of the event is the presentation of these exceptional actors on the main stage of the Berlinale Palast on 14th February where they will be awarded the Shooting Stars Award. Shooting Stars participants go on to serve as ambassadors for European cinema, demonstrating their talents to international audiences. Starting with the Berlinale they are introduced at festivals and attend workshops around the world.
NIK XHELILAJ
“In ‘The Albanian’ Xhelilaj brings both an intensity and a tenderness to his portrayal of the illegal immigrant that invest the role with a surprising complexity. A fresh and promising discovery,” says the Shooting Stars jury about Nik Xhelilaj’s starring role in “Der Albaner” movie, a German-Albanian co-production directed by Johannes Naber.
The movie which earned Xhelilaj international acclaim has been awarded with many prizes in different international film festivals.
In 2010, the German-Albanian co-production The Albanian (Johannes Naber, 2010), earned Xhelilaj the Silver George for ‘Best Actor’ at the 32nd Moscow International Film Festival as well as the ‘Best Actor’ awards at the 2nd PriFilmFest in Prishtina, Kosovo and the 47th International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival.
Born in Tirana, Albania, in 1983, Nik Xhelilaj graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in his native city in 2008. He had already begun working in the theatre and for the cinema during his time as a drama student, his theatre roles including Stanley Kovalsky in the Academy’s production of “A Streetcar Named Desire” and Arthur in Slawomir Mrozek’s “Tango in Durr쳢. He made his film acting debut with the short Single Use (Erion Hasanllari, 2005) and followed this with leads in Piro and Eno Milkani’s Albanian-Czech co-production Sorrow of Mrs. Schneider (2008) and Artan Minarolli’s ALIVE! (2008).
