{"id":176932,"date":"2026-08-21T12:27:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T12:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/176932\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T12:27:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T12:27:10","slug":"toronto-fest-centrepiece-title-where-the-river-begins-h624-pick-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/176932\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto Fest Centrepiece Title ‘Where the River Begins,’ h624 Pick-Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tCanadian distributor h264 has pounced on worldwide sales rights to \u201cWhere the River Begins\u201d (\u201cDonde comienza el rio\u201d) by Colombian-Canadian filmmaker Juan Andr\u00e9s Arango (\u201cLa Playa DC<\/a>\u201d), ahead of its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival<\/a> (TIFF<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\n\tStarring Girleza Duave Cerezo, Juan David Junca Linares and Ana Michell Nama Dumaza, \u201cWhere the River Begins\u201d screens at TIFF\u2019s Centrepiece section, a coveted platform for international cinematic voices.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt follows Yajaira (played by Duave Cerezo), a young Embera woman, who lives with her daughter Maria \u00a0(Nama Dumaza) in a rough Bogot\u00e1 neighborhood. Haunted by dreams of the jungle, Yajaira pines for the village she left behind. After tragedy forces them to flee, she and her daughter embark on a perilous journey to the And\u00e1gueda River, accompanied by Jhon (Junca Linares), a charismatic young gang member with a dark secret. The teaser unfolds below:<\/p>\n

\n\tSaid h264 president Jean-Christophe Lamontagne: \u201c\u2019Where the River Begins\u201d is a bold and deeply rooted film with the ability to resonate far beyond its place of origin. Juan Andr\u00e9s Arango\u2019s singular vision, combined with the strength of the project, makes us incredibly excited about the film\u2019s international journey as we head into TIFF.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201c\u2019Where the River Begins\u2019 is a film about the universal search for a place we can call home, told from the singular perspective of a young Embera mother. For me, having this film selected for TIFF represents an ideal starting point for its international journey, at a festival renowned precisely for its great diversity of voices,\u201d Arango told Variety.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWorking with h264 has been a new and stimulating experience as a filmmaker, as I had never before established such a close creative collaboration with a sales agent. Jean-Christophe J. Lamontagne and L\u00e9a-Marie Montreuil have been involved since post-production, providing creative input during the final stages of the edit. This has made me feel that h264 is not simply a business partner but an integral part of the film\u2019s team,\u201d said Arango whose career-launching debut feature \u201cLa Playa DC\u201d (Cannes<\/a> 2012, Lions Film Award Rotterdam) represented Colombia at the Oscars<\/a>. His second film, \u201cX500,\u201d premiered at the 2016 TIFF and scored several wins at a number of festivals.<\/p>\n

\n\tShot in Bogot\u00e1, Medell\u00edn and Honda among other locations in Colombia by DP Nicolas Canniccioni, the Canadian-Colombian co-production, in collaboration with Norway, was produced by Annick Blanc (Midi La Nuit) and Maria Gracia Turgeon (Midi La Nuit and 12PM) and Paola Andrea P\u00e9rez Nieto of Colombia\u2019s Inercia Pel\u00edculas, a producer of Cannes 2015 Cam\u00e9ra d\u2019Or winner \u201cLand & Shade.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 51st Toronto Film Festival takes place over Sept. 10-20.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canadian distributor h264 has pounced on worldwide sales rights to \u201cWhere the River Begins\u201d (\u201cDonde comienza el rio\u201d)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":176933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[50215,56035,48449,15609,48,19255],"class_list":["post-176932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-cannes","tag-la-playa-dc","tag-oscars","tag-tiff","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-film-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}