Black Nights Stars is a program launched by the Black Nights Film Festival in 2017. It is designed to help young actors from the Baltic Sea region—Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland—gain international visibility and promote themselves inside and outside their home territories. The program facilitates connections with international film professionals and training in practical skills for their future international careers.
The event is inspired by the European Shooting Stars program organised by European Film Promotion since 1998. European Shooting Stars takes place annually at the Berlin International Film Festival and introduces the ten best up-and-coming acting talents from throughout Europe to industry, press, and the public.
Black Nights Stars, a programme that highlights forthcoming actors and actresses, has announced its selection of eight promising young talents for 2024. Chosen from over two hundred submissions, the actors and actresses will take part in a comprehensive programme of workshops and lectures designed to help them succeed in the international film industry.
Photo: Black Nights Stars 2024 from top left: Alec Toselli, Andreas Bruun Pedersen, Maria Kowalska, Maria Valk, Märten Metsaviir, Salah Isse Mohamed, Robertas Petraitis, Zethphan Smith-Gneist.
Meet this year's Black Nights Stars!
Black Nights Stars 2024:
Alec Toselli is a Swedish actor. He studied the Meisner Technique at the Ted Bardy Acting Studio in New York City and at Playhouse West in Los Angeles. In 2020, he graduated from the drama school Cours Florent in Paris. He was born in Norrköping, Sweden, in 1993, to parents of Italian, Swedish and Estonian descent. Throughout the years, he has become known for his chameleonic ability to portray a wide range of characters, from villains to romantic leads, the latter of which is shown in his role as Jesse in the feature film Suicide Tuesday, by Joakim Paronen and his filmography shows him seamlessly going from slapstick comedies to dark thrillers. He has appeared in award-winning films like Too Much Sand (Best Comedy at Chicago CineYouth Festival, 2024), Headache (Best Swedish Short Film at Lund Fantastic Film Festival, 2023) and The Dream Machine (Best Depiction & Set Design at Exit Independent Film Festival, 2023).
Andreas Bruun Pedersen is an actor from Denmark. He is currently studying in his last year at The Danish National School of Performing Arts. Andreas started acting in 2019 and in the three years he acted before he got accepted into drama school, he has been a successful leading man in the TV-series Guldfeber (Always Be Closing) on Danish National Television, and had smaller parts in seven TV-series, and the feature films Lily’s Ghost by Kasper Møller Rask and There’s No Place Like Home by Puk Grasten. Andreas also had both leading and supporting roles in 24 short films altogether. As an actor he enjoys transforming physically into his characters. For his lead in Always be Closing he dropped 12 kg in 3 weeks to match his own vision of his character Kenneth and he isn’t shy of playing around with different beards and hairstyles either. In 2025 he will get his debut on stage in Jeppe on the Hill or The Transformed Peasant at Aarhus Theatre, where he’ll get to experience working with one of the greatest stage directors in Denmark, Christian Lollike.
Maria Kowalska is an actress from Poland and from an early age, her talent was evident in her victories in recitation competitions and her significant roles in school plays. She won the Talent 2012 award at the Art Festival of Wadowice Cultural Center. In 2015, Maria received the Golden Index, and was accepted into the Acting Department of the Łódź Film School. During her third year, Maria was discovered by renowned casting director Magdalena Szwarcbart, who cast her as Ola Kostrzewa, one of the four main characters in the TV series Under the Surface, directed by Borys Lankosz and Bartosz Konopka. Following this, she appeared in the feature film Nothing Is Lost by Kalina Alabrudzińska, in the series Osiecka, by Robert Gliński, and in the second season of the series Sexify, directed by Kalina Alabrudzińska. Her breakthrough role came with the adaptation of the cult Polish novel Forgotten Love, by Michał Gazda produced by Netflix. Following this role Maria became the cover star of the October 2023 issue of Elle Poland. Maria's most recent project is the TVP series Matylda, directed by Krzysztof Lang and the Feature Film Skrzyżowanie by Dominika Montean.
Maria Valk is a 24-year-old Estonian actress. Originally from Hiiumaa island, she graduated from the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy in 2023, where she studied Theatre and trained as an actress. With a background in singing, dancing, and visual arts, she has built a diverse and dynamic career in the performing arts. Her first minor acting role was in an Estonian 2020 feature film Talve ("Winter"), directed by Ergo Kuld. In 2023 She had a lead role in a student short May in Eden, directed her own first short The Hole. Mockery tragedy to the cultural field and played in a short called Saab, which got selected to BNFF, Tampere film festival and Bueu film festival. Her latest works are playing Monika in an YLE and ERR mini-series called Kalamaja blues and Marta in Punishment!? at the VAT Theatre in Tallinn.
Märten Metsaviir is an actor from Estonia. He graduated from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in 2020. After graduation, he was cast in the main role in one of the biggest movie productions ever made in Estonia – the medieval crime trilogy Melchior the Apothecary, directed by Elmo Nüganen. He can also be seen in one of the most viewed youth-based TV series, Revenge Office. Märten has lent his voice to several cartoons and has narrated various TV texts. Since his graduation in 2020, Märten has been working at the Estonian Drama Theatre. In addition to his creative ambitions, as Märten believes radically different fields play a crucial role in his personal development by fostering skills such as discipline, adaptability, and performance under pressure, he also works with one of the biggest go kart teams in Estonia, serving as a mechanic and driving coach. Märten has been selected as this year’s winner of the Bruno O’Ya Award, an Estonian award to encourage young acting talent in their international career, named after Bruno O'Ya, an Estonian-Polish actor, who in 1974 starred in the Academy Award-nominated film The Deluge under Jerzy Hoffman.
Robertas Petraitis is an actor from Vilnius, Lithuania, graduated in acting from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in 2022, making his theater debut as Didi in Waiting for Godot at The State Youth Theater. In 2022-2023, Robertas secured key roles in two Lithuanian feature films, both set for release in 2025. In the comedy Southern Chronicles by Ignas Miškinis, Robertas stars as Minde, soulmate of the protagonist Rimants, who’s dealing with the lessons of first love in the backdrop of a fast-changing country. In the leading role of the thriller The Activist by Romas Zabarauskas, Robertas plays Andrius, a young guy who infiltrates a neo-nazi group to find the killer of his boyfriend, an LGBT+ activist. In 2024, Robert starred in Pijus Mačiulskis short film Lark Ravenhair, which is sparked by a fable about a man-eating tigress. In the same year, Robertas joined the National Kaunas Drama Theatre acting troupe and started working on the new production Open the Door by Justinas Vinciūnas.
Salah Isse Mohamed is an actor from Finland, who has rapidly risen to prominence in the industry, securing a string of impressive roles in a short span of time. He made his acting debut in the collaborative effort between professionals and youth in the series Zone B by Juho Kuosmanen, Khadar Ayderus Ahmed, and Siiri Halko (2022) where he impressed audiences in one of the lead roles. In television, Salah has delivered standout performances in productions such as North 66 Precinct S2 (2024) by Teppo Airaksinen and Fast (Karkurit) S2 (2023) helmed by Jussi Hiltunen and Markus Lehmusruusu. He has also appeared in the film Hyväeli (2023), directed by Sami Laitinen. Salah will star in Aku Louhimies’ new flagship series Conflict which will be released later this year (2024). Salah is certainly a rising star to watch. Fluent in Finnish, English, and Somali, with a basic understanding of Arabic and Swedish, as well as French, he brings authenticity to his roles. Salah's multilingual abilities and physical talents make him a versatile and captivating choice. Next, he aspires to demonstrate his talent in international projects as well.
Zethphan Smith-Gneist was born in New York and grew up in Berlin. Zethpan played his first main role in the web-hit-series Druck (2020-2023), which earned him and the cast their first German Screen Actors Award for best ensemble. He also appeared in the Netflix-Series Kleo (2022), and acted alongside Cate Blanchett in Todd Fields modern masterpiece TÁR (2022), which got nominated for 6 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. His over a minute long scene with Cate Blanchett, shot in one take, led to Zethphan’s first interview with The Hollywood Reporter and mentions by The New York Times, Time Magazine, Los Angeles Times, Vanity Fair, Variety and many more. Recently he won his second German Screen Actors Award for best ensemble, as well as the Bunte New Faces Award as best up-and-coming actor for his first leading role in Zeit Verbrechen – Deine Brüder directed by Helene Hegemann, which premiered at this year ‘s Berlinale.
The promising talents from the Baltic Sea region were selected by an international jury of professionals, consisting of casting directors Ulrike Müller from Germany and Sien Josephine Teijssen from Belgium, Yngvill Haga from Norway and Sam Jones from the UK, all members of the International Casting Directors Association. Other judges included talent agent Silke Rodenbach from Germany, actor and acting coach Tom Sawyer from the UK and former Black Nights Star Henessi Schmidt from Estonia.
Black Nights Stars, taking place for the 7th time already, is part of Discovery Campus, an international continuing education programme organized by Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event and the lack Nights Film Festival.
The international jury selected the eight young talents from the Baltic Sea Region, consisting of Casting Directors and members of the International Casting Directors Association: Cassandra Han from Germany, Tanja Grunwald from Denmark, 3-time Emmy nominee Frank Moiselle from the UK/Ireland, and Kristina Kolytė, from Lithuania. The jury also included Talent Agent Malou T. Schultzberg, from Sweden; Oscar-nominated Director Tanel Toom, from Estonia; and Philippe Ros, a Cinematographer from France. Read more on the jury
The Black Nights Stars 2023 participants:
Saulius Ambrozaitis is a 25-year-old actor born and raised in Lithuania. Saulius graduated in acting from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in Oskaras Koršunovas two years ago. He has performed professionally in theatre since 2020 and made his stage debut as "Iago" in Shakespeare's play Othello. During his years at the academy, he was involved in numerous short and feature films, such as Dance by Danielius Minkevičius. In 2021, Saulius got a role in a three-part TV docu-drama series, Royal Bastards: The Rise of the Tudors, directed by Julian Jones. This year, he landed his first leading role in the TV series Nest Dissembler ( Lizdų Ardytojas) by Raimundas Banionis, scheduled for release in late 2023 in Lithuania.
Tuulia Eloranta is a Finnish actress with an MA from the Theatre Academy of Helsinki. Already in her early years, she had a passion towards acting. She starred in several Finnish productions,e.g., Harvoin Tarjolla, dir. Veikko Aaltonen, Star Above, by Saara Cantell and Icky Rapper And The Bicycle Thief, by Mari Rantasila. At sixteen, she landed her first lead role in the feature film Devil's Bride by Saara Cantell. Her latest works include Romeo & Juliet at the theatre collective 00100 Ensemble, Agatha Christie's Murder Of The Oriental Express at the summer theatre of Suomenlinna, and the series Helsinki Syndrome and The Invincibles. In 2023, She played the female lead in the feature film Huijarit by Rike Jokela, which will have its premiere later this year. Tuulia is also a trained singer with a contemporary and ballet dancing background.
Balder Ljunggren is from Stockholm, Sweden. He has a storied background as a singer & dancer, performing at some of the biggest stages in Stockholm and on TV & radio. Only later, he found acting, making his debut at the Stockholm City Theatre in the play Diplomati (2014) at an early age. More recently, he played a role in the beloved Swedish crime TV drama Maria Wern, directed by Lisa Ohlin, and in Fartblinda by Jens Jonsson & Johan Lundin. His love of acting, especially film, has only deepened. Calder is studying filmmaking at HDK-Valand in Gothenburg under the tutelage of Ruben Östlund. Also, a significant part of the last four years has been spent assisting and collaborating with director John Skoog on his next film, Värn, featuring legendary French actor Denis Lavant.
Ritvars Logins is a 24-year-old actor from Riga, Latvia. He began acting at a young age, starting as a child actor. In his teenage years, Ritvars switched gears and honed his culinary skills, specializing in exploring and popularizing the Atlantic region's taste and hosting his radio cooking show. But Ritvars's passion for acting never left, and in 2018, he participated in a once-in-a-lifetime acting course helmed by Alvis Hermanis at the esteemed New Riga Theatre. In the first year as a professional actor in The New Riga Theatre, Ritvars received the Best New Actor award at the Latvian National Theatre Awards 2022 for his performance in The New Latvian Stories. He also earned a nomination for The Latvian National Film Award 2022 for Best Actor in a Leading Role in the mini-series Crime Solving For The Beginners. In 2022, Ritvars played the lead role in the short film Vacuum Cleaner Salesman, which was selected for the New Talents Live Action competition and had its premiere at PÖFF.
See the e-Talenta interview with Ritvars Logins
Karmel Naudre is an actress from Estonia. She studied acting at the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy and is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Translation. Since graduating, Karmel has been engaged in various projects, from experimental mechanical machine building, wherein she actively interacted with these creations on stage, to participating in television series and short films. Among her recent projects, she portrayed the complex and layered character of Rose in William Mastrosimone's play Woolgatherers and femme fatale Marleen in the Viaplay TV series Shot Otto Mueller. Additionally, she had the opportunity to collaborate with Italian photographers and filmmakers to capture a love story filming in Sardegna.
Maris Nõlvak is from Estonia. At 15, she started studying at the Estonian Theater for Young Audiences drama studio. Her first role on the screen was in a supporting role in the TV series Here We Go Again by Estonian directors Andres Maimik and Rain Tolk. After this film, she was cast as the leading part in Andres and Katrin Maimik's film Cherry Tobacco ( 2014), which premiered at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. She continued her studies at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in Tartu, where she received the Panso Award. While she was still in drama school, she was invited to play Anya in the theatre production of The Cherry Orchard at Tallinn City Theatre, where she works today. Since finishing school, she has also participated in several TV series, such as Munavere, Dads and Messed Up by Rain Tolk and Andres Maimik. The last feature film she took part in was the trilogy of Melchior, The Apothecary, by Elmo Nüganen.
Karolina Rzepa grew up in the countryside near Warsaw, Poland and decided to become an actress at eighteen. She took professional acting training at the Aleksander Sewruk Acting Studio, at the Stefan Jaracz Theatre in Olsztyn and later continued studying at the National Academy of Theatre Arts in Krakow. She started working in minor roles in movies, television series, and student projects. In addition, Karolina performed in two of Jan Jakub Kolski's films, and 2020 Kolski invited her to work on his film, The Republic Of Children, in the lead role. After graduating, Karolina started working on the leading role in the series Dom Pod Dwoma Orłami (House of Two Eagles). Soon after, she played in The Green Glove Gang - a Netflix series directed by Tadeusz Śliwa, and Wojenne Dziewczyny, a television series produced by Filip Zylber. Karolina is awaiting the release of two premiers in 2023: a short film directed by Jules Sadowski, Comme Des Cowboys and Two Sisters - Łukasz Karwowski's movie. The film was shot in Ukraine during the war in August 2022 and is a Polish co-production with Ukraine.
Langston Uibel is a British-German actor who was born in South London and grew up in Berlin. Langston first became known for his role in the dramatic film Freistatt by Marc Brummund. He went on to star in various acclaimed projects including the Emmy and Golden Globe nominated Netflix limited series Unorthodox directed by Maria Schrader, as well as Christian Alvart’s Netflix series Dogs Of Berlin and How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast) by Arne Feldhusen. Langston currently stars in Christian Petzold’s Afire as Felix. The film premiered in competition at the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival where it won the Silver Bear, Grand Jury Prize. In September, Langston made his professional stage debut in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream in the role of Demetrius at the Burgtheater in Vienna.
The international jury has selected seven young talents from the Baltic Sea Region and one from Ukraine as a sign of support to the actors’ community in Ukraine including Aamu Milonoff (Finland), Karlis Arnolds Avots (Latvia), Daria Polunina (Ukraine), Albert Arthur Amiryan (Denmark), Farba Dieng (Germany), Lena Barbara Luhse (Estonia), Petras Šimonis (Lithuania) and Maarja Johanna Mägi (Estonia).
The jury who selected this year’s participants included Anja Dihrberg-Siebler (Casting director, member ICDN, Germany), Rie Hedegaard (Casting director, member ICDN, Denmark), Victor Jenkins (Casting director, member ICDN, UK) Alla Samoylenko (Casting director, member ICDN, Ukraine), Laura Munsterhjelm (Talent Agent, Finland and Sweden), Maie Rosmann (Producer, Estonia) and Mike Rosser (Journalist, Screen International, UK).
Aamu Milonoff from Finland began her acting career at a very young age, making her television debut in Matti Kinnunen’s Elamaa Suurempaa when she was only 12 years old. Since then, she has worked consistently across numerous TV & Film projects such as: Teppo Airaksinen’s dark comedy series Duke Of Sipoo; Juha Lankinen’s* The Happiest Hour Of The Wolf*; in Maanantai by Samuli Valkama; as Olivia in the drama Little Wing, and ‘Pinja’ in Stupid Young Heart - both by Selma Vilhunen.
She made her stage debut at The Finnish National Theatre in 2016 in a production of Richard III, directed by Jussi Nikkilä. Recently Aamu played the lead role of ‘Aliisa’ in Ulla Heikkila’s coming-of-age feature film Eden, which screened extensively on the international festival circuit. Last year, she shot another lead role in the Sundance Winning feature Girl Picture, by Alli Haapasalo. The film also competed in the Berlinale Generation 14plus -series. Aamu can also be seen in Netflix’s acclaimed Finnish crime & Nordic noir television series Deadwind which is directed by Rike Jokela; and also playing the role of ‘Sofia Talvitie’ in the crime series Pahan Väri, directed by Olli Ilpo Salonen.
Karlis Arnolds Avots from Latvia began his acting studies as a free-listener, as he was not accepted as a fully official student in a puppet actor course of Latvian Academy of Culture because of his unusual height (197 cm). But after 2 years of studies Karlis became the first one to sign a contract with a theatre and started working as a full-time actor, thus becoming the youngest theatre professional in Latvia. He continued his studies with Mikhail Gruzdov and Indra Roga, who have raised actors like Kseniya Rappoport. Currently Karlis is a part of Dailes Theatre main troupe, the biggest theatre in Latvia. He has received the Best Young Artist award for his roles as Razumikhin in Crime And Punishment by Dostoevsky and V in Lungs by D.McMillan. He started out in films by being casted for the leading role in Lovable, by Stanislavs Tokalovs, and two winters ago he worked on another leading role in a barricades time story January by Viesturs Kairiss, which had its world premiere in Tribeca International Film Festival. The collaboration with Kairiss continues also in Karlis next film, for which Karlis debutes also as a screenwriter.
Daria Polunina comes from the region of Kamianske in eastern Ukraine, a small industrial city. From a very young age Daria knew that acting was her only profession. She was accepted into the Kyiv National University of Theatre. After graduating, she was cast in a short film that was filmed in Poland, and her experience working on it prompted her to move there. In Warsaw, she started to build her career in earnest, whilst also acting in Ukrainian projects: Foxter And Max, a feature film by Anatoliy Mateshko; Hide and Seek, a TV serial by Irina Gromozda from Ukraine; Daria played in various short films such as The Way Home by Dimitry Avdieiev and Sashka by Katarzyna Lesisz; Recent productions Daria has been working on are: Pogrom 1905 , TV serial by Michał Rogalski for Akson Studio; The House Under Two Eagles, TV serial by Waldemar Krzystek for Telewizja Polska and The Girl And The Astronaut, by Bartek Prokopowicz for Netflix.
Albert Arthur Amiryan, was born and raised in Denmark. He has played the piano since childhood and is planning to release his first EP next year within the genre of contemporary classical music. He lives in Copenhagen with his partner and works as a carpenter and an actor. He has been performing in theatre since 2017 and landed his first leading role in 2020 in the movie Krudttønden (The Day We Died) directed by Ole Christian Madsen. He recently filmed a supporting role in season 3 of the TV series Forhøret (Face to Face) written and directed by Christoffer Boe, which is scheduled for release in late 2022.
Farba Dieng is a 28 year old actor, who was born in Lille, France. He is fluent in French but also in German because he spent his whole childhood and youth in France and Germany. Farba, who is an autodidact, regarding his acting skills, made his breakthrough performance playing the role „Babtou“ in the cine movie Toubab, directed by Florian Dietrich. For his performance in Toubab, Farba received the Bavarian Award (Bayrischer Filmpreis) for Best up-and-coming actor in 2021. Since then he appeared in exciting projects like the Netflix-series Skylines by Maximilian Erlenwein and Solen Yusef, the miniseries Breaking Even directed by Boris Kunz, the movie Cortex by Moritz Bleibtreu and Wolke Unterm Dach by Alain Gsponer. He was recently on the set of the new TV-series The Net. This exciting project is composed of three different series, shot in Germany, Austria and Italy.
Lena Barbara Luhse had her training at the Drama School of Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre but also has a degree in Art History from University of Brighton. Since 2020 she has worked at Vanemuine Theatre and has seven roles in the repertoire. In 2021 Vanemuine acknowledged her with the Colleague of the Year Award. Some of her most recent roles at Vanemuine include Olga in Fortune’s Fool (Ivan Turgenev) and Sister Rosa in All About My Mother (Pedro Almodóvar). In 2021 she was cast in a Russian speaking role in Kill The Child, a horror film by the American director Lee Roy Kunz. In the Estonian feature film Stairway To Heaven by Mart Kivastik she plays Ülle – a rebellious art student from 1970s. She was also a recurring character Estrid in the Estonian TV series *Salme Vikings" by Liis Lindmaa.
Petras Šimonis graduated from the Lithuanian music and theatre academy a few years ago, but has been acting since he was a child. His whole life, every activity he was involved with had some connection to the arts. He wrote a few plays himself; of which one was staged a few years back. During his student years, he actively got involved with the film industry, and since then he has been acting in many short films, feature films, a BBC documentary, music videos, commercials, and modelling. Not to mention theatre productions which he loves and with whom he has travelled throughout Europe. As an artist, he seeks to explore both the creativity and versatility of his craft, as well as various acting tools to improve his work. This summer he finished Prague intensive film acting and he also started the Master’s degree where he is going to deep dive into a character’s creation processes. His most notable work in the film The Flood Won’t Come received several nominations including the one at the Venice Film Festival. As a theatre actor, he won a “Young European theatre” competition in Spoleto, Italy, and the Dalia Tamulevičiūtė competition prize this year.
Maarja Johanna Mägi was born in Tartu, Estonia. She studied acting at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre and made her film debut as the female lead in Elmo Nüganen's movie trilogy Melchior The Apothecary (2022). She will also play in the upcoming film The Blemished Brides by Ergo Kuld. During her acting studies she received the Voldemar Panso Award for her remarkable work at the Drama School. Since graduating she has been working in Theatre Vanemuine where she has played in 11 different shows. In 2021 she received an award for being the most occupied actor in Vanemuine. Her more noticeable theatre works include Little Prince in The Little Prince by Elmo Nüganen, Ilona in The Women Of Niskavuori by Tiit Palu and Ursula-Marie in Nothing by Johan Elm.