Acclaimed in his native country for his performance as Stanley Kowalski in Tennessee William’s legendary play A Streetcar Named Desire, Nik Xhelilaj (Tirana, 1983) first appeared on the big screen in 2008 in Piro and Eno Milkani's Albanian/Czech co-production Sorrow of Mrs. Schneider and in Artan Minarolli's Alive!. But it was last year’s emigration drama The Albanian by Johannes Naber, in which he played the lead, that Albania’s first Shooting Star was brought into the limelight. The juries of the Moscow, Pristine and Antalya festivals recognised his talent with Best Actor prizes.