TIFF 2019 announces Canadian rising stars

#NextGenerationCanadianTIFFRisingStars; #CanadianTorontoInternationalFilmFestival 


Toronto, Aug 1 (Canadian-Media): Next generation of Canadian Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) rising stars were announced yesterday by TIFF Co-Heads Cameron Bailey and Joana Vicente.

For the ninth year, the programme returns with a diverse group of talented young men and women and will showcase and help nurture the talent of four of Canada’s most exciting up-and-coming actors consisting of Kacey Rohl, Mikhaïl Ahooja, Nahéma Ricci, and Shamier Anderson. 

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The actors of the TIFF Rising Stars programme will be provided with an opportunity to engage with the Festival and will have access to professional development sessions, Industry events, red carpets, mentorship, and valuable networking opportunities.

​“With such a wealth of homegrown talent, selecting the Canadian Rising Stars is never an easy task,” said Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director and Co-Head of TIFF. “We were blown away by this group and deeply impressed by these young, up-and-coming voices. I have no doubt they’ll go on to do big things, just like the Rising Stars who came before them.” 

All Rising Stars are featured in films in TIFF 2019’s Official Selection. Kacey Rohl stars in White Lie, directed by Canadian filmmakers Calvin Thomas and Yonah Lewis, and have its World Premiere in our Contemporary World Cinema programme.

Mikhaïl Ahooja is featured in the Midnight Madness film The Twentieth Century, directed by Matthew Rankin and following a young William Lyon Mackenzie King in his quest to be the Prime Minister of Canada.

Nahéma Ricci will appear in Sophie Deraspe’s Antigone, a coming-of-age drama in the Contemporary World Cinema selection

Shamier Anderson will be featured alongside Shailene Woodley, Sebastian Stan, and Jamie Dornan in Drake Doremus’s Endings, Beginnings, which will have its World Premiere in the Special Presentations programme. 

TIFF will announce its four international Rising Stars on August 15. 

​Previous years’ Rising Stars alumni are Emmy Award–winning actor Tatiana Maslany (Stronger, Orphan Black, Being Erica), Stephan James (If Beale Street Could Talk, Homecoming, Selma), Théodore Pellerin (On Becoming a God in Central Florida, Boy Erased), Devery Jacobs (American Gods, Blood Quantum), Connor Jessup (White Lie, Falling Skies, American Crime), Sarah Gadon (Alias Grace, Maps to the Stars, 11.22.63), and Ellen Wong (Glow, The Carrie Diaries, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), among others. The 44th Toronto International Film Festival runs September 5–15, 2019

                                              (Reporting by Asha Bajaj)