Irish Actor Robbie Sheehan unable to Participate in the 'Shooting Stars' Initiative
Irish actor Robert Sheehan (Cherrybomb, Summer of the Flying Saucer) was selected earlier this month for the prestigious SHOOTING STAR initiative, beating off stiff competition from other countires involved in the scheme.
However, regretfully Robert will no longer be able to accept his award at the Berlinale Film Festival 2010 due to a scheduling clash on his new film. As his screen career continues to gather momentum and his schedule has quickly filled for the first part of 2010. He will be filming the leading role in the new independent film KILLING BONO (aka I WAS BONO’S DOPPELGANGER) directed by Nick Hamm throughout January and February 2010 in Belfast and his shooting schedule unfortunately conflicts with the Shooting Stars event.
Commenting on this news Robert Sheehan said “I send sincere regrets to the organisers and the judges of the Shooting Stars Award, I am, of course, hugely disappointed that I will not be able to attend this event. I was deeply honoured to be selected for this prestigious award and I send my very best wishes to all the other Shooting Stars and the festival.”
Robert has been acting since childhood making one of his debut appearances in Aisling Walsh's acclaimed feature film Song for a Raggy Boy. Since then, he has appeared in a numerous Irish and UK television programmes such as Foreign Exchange, Young Blades, The Clinic, The Tudors and Rock Rivals. He recently starred alongside Sean Bean and Paddy Considine in the Red Riding trilogy of films based on the novels by David Peace which aired on Channel 4 earlier this year to much critical acclaim.
Robert was cast opposite Rupert Grint, Kimberly Nixon and James Nesbitt in the feature film Cherrybomb which premiered at the 2009 Berlin Film Festival and is due to hit cinemas in 2010. Another feature film due to go on release in 2010 is The Season of the Witch in which Robert stars alongside Oscar winner Nicolas Cage and Golden Globe winner Ron Pearlman.
Robert can currently be seen in Misfits, a new UK comedy drama on E4 and will star in Love and Hate, a new Irish TV drama mini-series featuring Aidan Gillen which is due for transmission on RTÉ next year.
Jury members responsible for the selection include the acclaimed Czech actress Ana Geislerová (Beauty in Trouble), the award-winning Italian director Giuseppe Piccioni (Giulia Doesn't Date At Night), the renowned German producer Karl Baumgartner (Pandora Film), the internationally active casting director Leo Davis from the UK (The Queen) and Steven Gaydos, author and Executive Editor of the international film magazine Variety, USA.
Supported by the Media Programme of the European Union, the SHOOTING STARS event has been spotlighting the achievements of young European actors and the quality of their films for the past 13 years and offering the selected talents a networking platform at the Berlinale to develop their international careers. The event culminates in the SHOOTING STARS AWARD - presented by Studio Babelsberg, one of Europe's leading film studios for feature films.