Alessandro Borghi is the actor who will represent Italy at the 20th edition of Shooting Stars, the special event dedicated to young European actors during Berlinale, organized by European Film Promotion – the network of all the European companies promoting cinema – and coordinated from the Italian side by Filmitalia department of Istituto Luce Cinecittà. Shooting Stars has been a true springboard for foreign actors such as Daniel Craig, Ludivine Sagnier, or Rachel Weisz; over the years, the Italian Shooting Stars have been (in chronological order) Maya Sansa, Stefano Accorsi, Fabrizio Gifuni, Libero De Rienzo, Filippo Nigro, Giorgio Pasotti, Riccardo Scamarcio, Jasmine Trinca, Elio Germano, Alba Rohrwacher, Michele Riondino, Isabella Ragonese, Luca Marinelli, Miriam Karlkvist and Sara Serraiocco.
The Jury for Shooting Stars 2017 – formed by Hungarian actress and former Shooting Star Dorka Gryllus (Demimonde), British casting director Lucinda Syson (Batman Begins), Portuguese producer Pandora da Cunha Telles (Bridges of Sarajevo), Swiss director Xavier Koller (Journey of Hope), Swedish film editor and critic Jan Lumholdt (Svenska Dagbladet) – evaluated the national candidates proposed by the 38 EFP members and selected the final 10 emerging European actors and actresses who will have the opportunity to meet casting agents from all over the world and international press during Berlinale.
Alessandro Borghi, born in 1986, impressed the Shooting Stars Jury for his “uncanny charisma” (as defined in the Jury comments). After several tv experiences, Alessandro managed to raise both the audience’s and the critic’s attention for his role in Don’t Be Bad by Claudio Caligari, presented in Venice 2015 and later nominated as Italian entry for Oscars. Thanks to this role he was nominated as Best Italian Actor in a Leading Role at the David di Donatello Awards 2016, the same year he was nominated also as Best Italian Actor in a Supporting Role for his next film, Suburra by Stefano Sollima. After another film which brought him back to Venice, the debut I Was A Dreamer by Michele Vannucci, he will be again soon on the big screen with his lates two productions: Fortunata by Sergio Castellitto and his first role in an international cast in Dalida by French director Lisa Azuelos.