The European Film Promotion (EFP) is a European network of film promotion institutes, film agencies and film funds based in Hamburg. It gathers 36 national promotion agencies from 35 European countries. The Croatian Audiovisual Centre has been a member since 2009.

The purpose of the EFP is the networking of organizations on joint projects and initiatives for the successful promotion of European film and European film talents in the world.

The European Shooting Stars is one of EFP’s biggest projects. The programme showcases ten outstanding young actors from Europe and has taken place for 26 consecutive years as part of the Berlin International Film Festival – Berlinale.

Tina Hajon has been the Programme Director of the European Shooting Stars since September of this year and she is the first Croatian film professional to hold this position.  

Tina Hajon launched her successful international career in Italy, where she was born. She holds a Master’s degree in audiovisual production from the Roma Tre University and received professional training in many internationally recognized educational programmes. She collaborated with television houses RAI and HTV and was a correspondent for the BBC Public International Radio. She headed the four-year national project of the digitization of Croatian independent cinemas for the Croatian Ministry of Culture and Media and the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, laying the foundations for the establishment of the Croatian Independent Cinemas Network. She was a board member of Europa Cinemas – a network of European cinemas. Over the last 20 years in Croatia and abroad, she has designed and produced many original cultural and film projects and founded the association Pari Pikule. She is the head of the programme for regional film exhibitors and a selector of the Avantpremiere Series programme of the Sarajevo Film Festival. She is the artistic director of DA2 – Zagreb Design, Art & Architecture Film Festival that takes place every autumn in Zagreb. She cooperates with the Friuli Venezia Giulia Audiovisual Fund and the Slovenian Film Centre, for which she designed and heads the ReActing As a Star project aimed to promote regional actors.

Five acclaimed experts selected by the European Film Promotion (EFP) have the challenging task of deciding which of the 27 nominated acting talents will take part in the upcoming edition of the European Shooting Stars (17th – 20th February 2023) at the Berlin International Film Festival.

This year’s European Shooting Stars jury members are Polish director Jan Komasa, Dutch casting director Rebecca van Unen, Norwegian producer Maria Ekerhovd, Spanish actress and director Veronica Echegui and UK journalist and film critic Leo Barraclough.

“We are delighted to have this renowned group of jury members joining us this year. Their experience will ensure that the selection is top-notch, and will greatly enrich the overall programme. We look forward to their discoveries and a new cohort of up-and-coming European acting talent,” said programme director Tina Hajon as the jury members were announced.

As reported earlier, young actress Gracija Filipović (Murina) was selected for this year’s European Shooting Stars programme at the 71st Berlinale. Gracija is the youngest actress to be selected this year and one of the youngest to participate in the programme to date. She is also only the fourth Croatian actress to have participated in the programme, joining her predecessors Zrinka Cvitešić (2010), Marija Škaričić (2011) and Tihana Lazović (2016), while producer Ankica Jurić Tilić sat on the programme jury in 2018.