The Waiting Room

[projekktor id=’24325′]

The Waiting Room is a Canadian drama written and directed by Igor Drljaca. The film screened at the Toronto International Film Festival last year and received two Canadian Screen Award nominations for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress. The cast features Jasmin Geljo, Ma-Anne Dionisio, and Cynthia Ashperger.

Jasmin, once a successful actor in former Yugoslavia, now lives in Toronto with his second wife and young son. While juggling a construction job and a busy audition schedule, he dreams of re-launching an old televised stage show that made him famous in his homeland. When he is cast in a role that triggers recollections of the civil war, he is forced to reconcile his current reality with memories of his past success.

“The idea behind The Waiting Room is rooted in the experiences of performers from former Yugoslavia in Toronto,” says Drljaca. “It combines fiction with biographical elements, and is partially inspired by the lead actor’s (Jasmin Geljo’s) life in Toronto. Jasmin was a successful actor in pre-war Sarajevo, and was part of a wildly popular televised stage show Audicija (The Audition), many of whose members are still successful actors today. Jasmin, like many others, left his homeland during the war in the 1990’s, aware that his stay would likely be permanent, but always hoping to return.”

The Waiting Room is rated 14A.