Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival

Screen Stars Tallinn is a three-day lab and talent showcase for young actors from the Baltic Sea Region, launched this year by Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. The first edition will take place on November 28-30 and offer the participants meetings with casting agents and filmmakers, masterclasses and networking events. The programme is open for actors who have already performed in films in their respective countries and now wish to enter the international acting scene.

The panel, moderated by the Estonian filmmaker Ilmar Raag will discuss the Screen Stars Tallinn programme that has seen various activities, including meetings with international casting agents, participation at the Black Nights Catwalk and photo sessions.

Screen Stars mentors are Stephanie Holbrook, casting director (USA), Debbie McWilliams, casting director (UK), Beatrice Kruger, casting director (Italy), Molly Wansell, agent (UK), Georg Georgi, agent (Germany), Laura Munsterhjelm, agent (Finland), Deborah Kara Unger, actress (Canada) and Steven Bernstein, director (USA).
 

Photo credit: Siim Vahur

Hendrik Toompere jr (Estonia)
Hendrik Toompere jr is a third generation Estonian actor and stage director. In 2010, he graduated from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, and has since been working at the Estonian Drama Theatre. He played in short and student films at university and has now become one of the most desired male film actors in Estonia. His first feature film role was in 2012 in Toomas Hussar’s film Mushrooming, which won the Audience Award at the Karlovy Vary IFF East of West programme and went on to screen at many festivals worldwide. The 2015 domestic box office hit 1944 starring Hendrik has now been sold to more than 20 territories. Both films were the Estonian submissions for the Foreign Language Academy Award. In 2016, Hendrik played the lead in Triin Ruumet’s debut film The Days That Confused, which brought him the Estonian Film Award for Best Actor. In 2017, we can see Hendrik in supporting roles in the feature films The End of the Chain and The Eternal Road that both screen at Black Nights competitions.

Elina Vaska (Latvia)
Elina Vaska was cast in the main role of Renars Vimba's feature debut Mellow Mud as she began studying Theory of Audiovisual Art and Theatre at the Latvian Academy of Culture. Mellow Mud won the Crystal Bear for Best Film on its world premiere at the Berlinale's Generation 14plus strand last year. Elina, who has now also made her stage acting debut, was awarded with the Latvian National Film Award Lielais Kristaps for her role in Mellow Mud and with other awards, not only in Europe. Elina Vaska has been named among the 2017 European Shooting Stars. Praising Vaska's performance in Mellow Mud, the jury commented: "She just made her debut, and what's the debut of this. We could compare it with some classic predecessors, but we will not. Elina's performance is all her own, subtle, contemplative and with a soulful glow. It's the power of the unspoken in a very pure form." With experience in films, TV series and music videos, Elina continues to search for challenges as an actress.

Rosa Honkonen (Finland)
Rosa Honkonen, born in 2000, started acting at age 9 in a musical theatre school. After her first auditions, she bagged a role in a musical, and enrolled in Kruununhaka’s Junior High School, which specialised in music and dancing. From there, she moved to the TV series Satanen and soon thereafter met Anastasia Lobkovski, who has cast her in many roles since then. While shooting Satanen, she was cast in the teaser for the film The Collection, followed by a role in MTV3’s series Hinnalla Millä Hyvänsä, directed by Samuli Valkama. Her first major film role was the main supporting character in Hannaleena Hauru’s Thick Lashes of Lauri Mäntyvaara. In 2017, she played in Stupid Young Heart, directed by Selma Vilhunen. Honkonen is now studying, majoring in international business, but her biggest passion remains acting.

Credit: German Films / Jens Koch

Gelmine Glemžaite (Lithuania)
Gelminė Glemžaitė was born in 1990, in Vilnius, Lithuania. She started her acting studies at the Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy in 2011, and graduated with a BA in 2014. In 2017, she was nominated for the Best Lithuanian Film Actress award at Vilnius International Film Festival, and for the Best Supporting Actress at the Lithuanian national film awards, Silver Crane. At the moment, she’s working in cinema and theatre. Selected filmography: Ten Reasons / Dešimt priežasčių (dir. Andrius Blaževičius, short film, 30 min., 2011, Lithuania), Sobaka (short film, dir. Domas Petronis, 2014, Lithuania), The Saint / Šventasis (dir. Andrius Blaževičius, feature film, 93 min., 2016, Lithuania, Poland), Poilsiautojai. Pavydo žaidynės (feature film,  dir. Simonas Aškelavičius, 2017, Lithuania), The Snake (short film, dir. Titas Laucius, 2017, Lithuania), Summer Survivors (feature film, dir. Marija Kavtaradzė, work in progress, Lithuania).

Lena Morris (Germany)
Lena Morris is an aspiring young actress born and raised in Northern Germany. After her A levels and attending school theatre, she lived a year abroad in England and took an acting class in Maidenhead (England). To study drama, she moved to Berlin. During her three years studies, she began to film A Thought of Ecstasy, that screens in the Official Selection of Black Nights this year.  Currently she lives in Berlin and is playing on stage at Pfefferberg Theater.