Priyanka Chopra is guest of honor at the annual fundraiser for TIFF 2017

#PriyankaChopra, #TorontoInternationalFilmFestival,  #CameronBailey, #ShareHerJourney, #PattyJenkins, #Quantico, #AliChiasson

​Toronto, Sep 7 (Canadian-Media): Priyanka Chopra, Bollywood Crossover Star, walked on red carpet -- that was rolled out Wednesday night at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Bell Lightbox on Wednesday, the eve of the TIFF which runs from Sept. 7-17 -- as the guest of honour at this year's TIFF Soirée, media reports said.

Priyanka Chopra. Image credit: Facebook page

The event, now in its 42nd ye shear, is an annual fundraiser that kicked off the festival.

The proceeds from the event will reportedly go towards TIFF's new campaign ‘Share Her Journey’ to increase participation, skills and opportunities for women behind and in front of the camera with a focus on mentorship, skills development, media literacy, and activity for young people.

The goal of Share Her Journey campaign, said Chopra, is to raise $3 million to provide networking residency program and production for evolving filmmakers.

Talking to Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director of TIFF, Chopra tweeted,

"You really pulled everything out of me tonight,#CameronBailey ! Thank you for asking me to share my journey tonight, and for shining a spotlight on women in entertainment #TIFF17#ShareHerJourney."

Chopra was recently named a global UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and is is involved in a number of efforts to protect children's rights and promote the education of girls in India through her charity, ‘The Priyanka Chopra Foundation for Health and Education’.

Half of the films in this year's competitive lineup have reportedly female directors.

Applauding TIFF for boosting opportunities for women in film, Chopra commented that everyone “needs to take a page out of their book and actually do their bit in entertainment."

Pointing out to Patty Jenkins , director of ‘Wonder Woman’, the first female director for a studio superhero movie, Chopra was quoted by the media as saying,
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"You can understand how hard and few and far between these opportunities are. But it's got to take people like us to stand out there, dig our heels in and say we're not going to stand for it anymore."

​Priyanka Chopra reportedly commented when she was in Quantico: "You never know your own strength until being strong is the only choice you have."​​

​Chopra said she would work outside of the entertainment industry on Wednesday evening at the Lightbox.

It was the Indian cinema, said Chopra that gave her the first opportunity of an acting career.
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She then made her American TV debut, said Chopra, as Alex Parrish on Quantico for which she won in 2016 the People's Choice Award.

According to reports, she most recently starred in the film revival of Baywatch.

She will discuss her career, said Chopra, in the onstage conversation and was quoted by CBC Toronto's Ali Chiasson on the red carpet as saying,

"It's not easy — when you come into entertainment being a woman. You've got to pull your socks up for a fight. No one's going to hand it out to you, whether it's credit, whether it's parts, whether it is the ability to make movies."
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(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)