TIFF spotlight: Igor Drljaca and ‘The Waiting Room’

TORONTO – The Toronto International Film Festival is in full swing with hundreds of movies set to unspool through Sept. 20. Here’s a look at a Canadian project trying to break through at the 11-day movie marathon:

Director: Igor Drljaca

Hometown: Toronto

Film: “The Waiting Room”

Synopsis: A Sarajevo-born performer celebrated in former Yugoslavia struggles to find the same level of success in his new home of Toronto. Jasmin Geljo plays the actor while Ma-Anne Dionisio co-stars as his wife and Filip Geljo plays their 10-year-old son.

Genesis: Like the lead character in the film, Drljaca was born in Sarajevo and immigrated to Toronto because of the Bosnian War. He says that inspired him to tell the stories of immigrants like himself who fled during that time period in the ’90s and left cultural legacies behind.

“Often a lot of them dream of restarting their careers,” says Drljaca.

“But because of the situation they’re in — because of the fact that they have started families, they have built friendships and built communities — it’s very difficult for them to make that jump.”