Black Nights Stars, the initiative of the Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event, holds an insightful panel discussion with internationally recognised casting directors such as Joseph Middleton, Billy Hopkins and Avy Kaufman, about the way auditions work in the States and how casting directors find European actors. The discussion is led by Lina Todd, a highly accomplished casting director based in New York.

Claudia Landsberger, the head of PÖFF Black Nights Stars programme commented, that numerous actors' dream is to work in the United States or with American productions. Still, most of them have no real idea about what this means and what one needs to do to actually get there. "We invited Lina Todd to do a panel with some of her colleagues and shed light on the matter. Joseph Middleton, Billy Hopkins, Avy Kaufman, Alice Whitley and Cynthia Campos-Greenberg, are all highly accomplished and major award-winning casting directors and talent managers with a wealth of experience working for Hollywood and independent productions, for big agencies such as ICM and William Morris Agency, and their own companies. It is a great honour for us to welcome these professionals to our online program, where they will meet the Black Nights Stars and share all that there is to know about this industry."

The panellists include casting director Joseph Middleton ("Mr. & Mrs. Smith", "Twilight: New Moon," "The Bourne Supremacy," "Legally Blonde", "The Single Man"), casting director Billy Hopkins "Desperately Seeking Susan", "The United States vs. Billie Holiday", "Mudbound"), casting director Avy Kaufman ("Life of Pi", "Lincoln", "Prometheus", "Shame", "Brokeback Mountain", "Capote", "The Sixth Sense", "Dancer in the Dark"), a NY-based talent agent Alice Whitley and a representative of talent in Hollywood, Cynthia Campos-Greenberg. The conversation is moderated by casting director Lina Todd of Lina Todd Casting, USA, "The Way Back" (Peter Weir); "Little Man Tate" (Jodie Foster); "A Good Day to Die Hard" (John Moore), "Crazy Alien" (Hao Ning).

The panel discussion takes place online at industry.poff.ee on November, 24 at 19:00 – 20:30 (EET) and is accessible for everyone with accreditation to Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event.

Black Nights Stars is designed to support young actors from the Baltic Sea region, to make their next steps into the international arena by connecting them to key international film professionals. The programme of Black Nights Stars 2020 takes place as an online event at Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event taking place during 23-27 November. The Black Nights Stars programme is presented by the Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event during the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, and the European Regional Development Fund project Creative Gate.