Maria Simon, who played Daniel Bruehl's older sister Ariane in Wolfgang Becker's box-office hit Good Bye, Lenin!, has been selected by the Export-Union of German Cinema as the German "Shooting Star" for the 2004 lineup of European acting talent at February's Berlinale.

The Shooting Star initiative, which is organised by the Hamburg-based pan-European promotional organisation European Film Promotion (EFP), has presented almost 120 of Europe's most exciting up-and-coming young actors and actresses to the international film community during the Berlinale over the past six years.

Meanwhile, EFP and Studio Hamburg Produktion have announced the launch of a long-term deal which will see the German production company sponsoring the Studio Hamburg Shooting Stars Award.