Congratulations: Actor Albrecht Schuch is the German Shooting Star 2021

European Film Promotion (EFP) today announced the ten up-and-coming acting talents who will be presented online as the Shooting Stars for 2021 ahead of the 71st Berlinale. Albrecht Schuch has been selected to represent Germany. The Shooting Stars programme will enable the actors to meet casting directors, producers, filmmakers and the international press virtually from February 23-25, 2021 to expand their professional network. The Berlinale will be held in an online edition from March 1 to 5 due to the coronavirus pandemic, with an audience event being planned for June.

"Albrecht Schuch is an exceptional actor. With his versatlity, intensity and presence, he is now one of the most important actors in German cinema and television productions. We congratulate him from the bottom of our hearts for  this award and hope that this will now also make him even better known on the international stage," says Petra Müller, CEO of the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW. "How we would have loved to have welcomed the 'Shooties 2021' in person at NRW’s Berlinale reception, but now we’re keeping our virtual fingers crossed for their further journey and look forward to seeing them again in many German or European films!"

The 35-year-old Albrecht Schuch has made an impression in numerous cinema and TV productions in recent years. At the 2020 German Film Awards, he was presented with two Lolas: as Best Male Lead Actor in Nora Fingscheidt’s "System Crasher" and as Best Male Supporting Actor in the Filmstiftung-backed drama "Berlin Alexanderplatz" by Burhan Qurbani. He also received the German Television Award for Best Actor and the German Academy of Television Award for the series "Bad Banks". Schuch is also known to audiences for his appearances in the Filmstiftung-backed  productions "Gladbeck" by Kilian Riedhof (German Television Award, German Actor’s Award) and for his role of Otto Modersohn in "Paula" by Christian Schwochow. His portrayal of the GDR lyricist Thomas Brasch in the current Filmstiftung-backed project "Lieber Thomas" by Andreas Kleinert is hotly anticipated.

Among the ten European Shooting Stars, Albrecht Schuch is joined by two other actresses who have appeared in Filmstiftung-backed international co-productions: Alba Baptista (Portugal) in "Patrick" by Gonçalo Waddington (augenschein Filmproduktion), which premiered in San Sebastián in 2019, and Natasa Stork (Hungary) in "Jupiter’s Moon" by Kornél Mundruczó (Match Factory Productions), which screened in competition at Cannes in 2018. Other Shooting Stars this year include Seidi Haarla (Finland), Nicolas Maury (France), Fionn O’Shea (Ireland), Žygimantė Elena Jakštaitė (Lithuania), Martijn Lakemeier (Netherlands), Sara Klimoska (North Macedonia) and Gustav Lindh (Sweden).

The Shooting Stars programme is supported by the MEDIA programme of the EU as well as by the participating EFP member organisations and other cooperation partners. The European Shooting Stars initiative has been in existence since 1998, and the presentation has been supported from the outset by the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW. Previous German Shooting Stars have included Emma Drogunova, Carla Juri, Louis Hofmann, Franz Rogowski, Alexander Fehling, Moritz Bleibtreu and Jürgen Vogel.