The ICDN Award for Best Casting is presented exclusively to members of ICDN and voted by the organisation’s members.
The prize was established to promote and improve the professional profile of casting directors worldwide, and has been awarded every year since 2016.
The award is backed by the Sarajevo Film Festival and Spotlight. Alongside the annual ceremony, we offer workshops, masterclasses and talks.
Read more about the award winners, workshops presented by ICDN over the years and the history of the award.
Winners
- 2019 Sara Törnkvist (SE) for BORDER by Ali Abbasi
- 2018 Francesco Vedovati (IT) for DOGMAN by Matteo Garrone
- 2017 Harika Uygur (TR) for MUSTANG by Deniz Gamze Ergüven
- 2016 Antoinette Boulat & Elsa Pharaon for STANDING TALL by Emanuelle Bercot.
Workshops presented by ICDN
2019
The official CASTING AT THE HEART OF FILMMAKING PROGRAMME included an International Masterclass for Balkan actors, with SFF as the primary financial sponsor, panel discussions with casting directors, and a donation drive in aid of refugees in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
ICDN members attending included Corinna Glaus (Switzerland), Nathalie Chéron (France), Beatrice Kruger (Italy), Piotr Bartuszek (Poland), Marina Wijn (The Netherlands), and Sofia Dimopoulou (Greece)
2018
A case study on the casting of three films with the two leading actors plus:
- The Casting Director of DOGMAN, our Italian member Francesco Vedovati and winner of the ICDN Award for Best Casting 2018;
- One of our Polish members and the casting director of COLD WAR, Magdalena Szwarcbart;
- ICDN vice-president Timka Grin of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Casting Director of NEVER LEAVE ME;
- The director of NEVER LEAVE ME, Aida Begic.
A discussion headed by former ICDN Chairwoman Debbie McWilliams for visiting directors and producers about “How to use Casting Directors to your best advantage, from attaching your leads to assembling the perfect cast”.
Meals for Monologues, a charity event for the refugees of Bosnia-Herzegovina, sponsored by ICDN and Spotlight where actors perform monologues before a panel of international casting directors, in exchange for their donations of food, toys, toiletries and clothing for the refugees. All proceeds supported the respected non-profit aid organisation in Sarajevo, Pomozi.ba.
An ICDN Workshop where members Anja Dihrberg (DE), Tusse Lande (SE), Harika Uygur (TR), Nancy Bishop (UK/CZ), Lana Veenker (USA) and Beatrice Kruger (IT) gave individual workshops focusing on acting for the international market to 15 professional actors who had been selected by the Festival from the ex-Yugoslavian regions.
One-to-one meetings with ICDN casting directors, organised by the Festival’s industry section CineLink, and a chance for producers and directors to discuss their upcoming projects with an international casting director.
2017
A panel, “Profession: Casting Director”, and Q&A session for all festival goers.
Three masterclasses on casting for the students of the Locarno Filmmakers’ Academy.
“Alliance for Development” project – a conversation “Eyes on the Stars – Meet with Casting Directors ICDN” – only for accredited producers and directors of the Locarno industry. Participating ICDN members were Simone Bär (DE), Nancy Bishop (CZ/UK), Constance Demontoy (FR), Anja Dihrberg (DE), Corinna Glaus (CH), Timka Grin (BA), Debbie McWilliams (UK), Rebecca Van Unen (NL) and Francesco Vedovati and Beatrice Kruger (IT).
2016
A panel on “International Casting” for the Festival’s industry project, “Alliance for Development”, including ICDN members Corinna Glaus (CH), Lana Veenker (US), Jeremy Zimmerman (UK), Annette Trumel (FR), Anja Dihrberg (DE) and Beatrice Kruger (IT).
History of the award
Since establishing the ICDN we continued to meet at the Berlinale for the Shooting Stars project and to collaborate with one another on casting co-productions. Recognising the importance of an international casting award we set out to establish the ICDN Award for Best Casting.
We first joined forces with the Locarno Film Festival that hosted our very first ICDN Award for Best Casting in 2016. Backed by the festival and Spotlight, who have continued to sponsor this award since 2016, we were able to celebrate our profession and share our knowledge via workshops given by ICDN casting directors during the festivals.
A significant achievement was that the Locarno Festival accepted our request and adapted the film description template of their official festival catalogue so that now, other than the DoP, the Production Designer or the Costume Designer, the Casting Director is also named.
In 2018 we moved the venue for our ICDN Award for Best Casting. Thanks to the support of Festival Director Miro Purivatra, we were able to move to the Sarajevo International Film Festival, where we accompanied the award with an even richer ICDN program.
In 2019 we became partners of the festival which included a “Casting at the Heart of Filmmaking” programme. Another significant achievement was that now the Sarajevo International Film Festival also accepted our request and adapted the film description template of their official festival catalogue so that, other than the DoP, the Production Designer or the Costume Designer, the Casting Director is also named.
In 2018, with 89 members from 27 different countries and histories (and, respectively, different casting realities), we continued to enjoy collaborating at the Berlinale with European Film Promotion’s Shooting Stars project by meeting the promising actors and actresses every year. At the same time, we started working together with the Berlinale’s Industry Market for their accredited producers, as well as with other festivals in our members’ countries for panels and masterclasses.
In the meantime, we also became independent of EFP and founded the ICDN officially as an international non-profit organisation based in Berlin in 2019. We have a truly international board, currently consisting of 8 members (from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Poland, the UK and the US). Our main focus is always to make our profession known in each of our members’ countries and to promote the advantages of collaborating with a casting director to their respective directors and producers at film and TV festivals, film schools, theatre academies and industry events.
