Feature Film Casting Call Toronto – $250/day

PRODUCTION TITLE: QUICKENING

MEDIA: Feature Film

STATUS: Non-Union

PRODUCER: Yona Strauss

DIRECTOR: Haya Waseem

WRITER: Haya Waseem

CASTING DIRECTOR: Jesse Griffiths

CASTING ASSISTANT: Rebecca Ostroff

AUDITION DATE: First Round By Self Tape

SHOOT DATE: Summer 2020 – Dates TBC

SHOOT LOCATION: Toronto/GTA

PAY RATE: Pays $150.00 to $250.00 per day – see roles below

.
PRODUCTION NOTES:
• QUICKENING has been selected as a recipient of the 2020 Telefilm Canada Talent to Watch program.
• The Talent Fund-supported Talent to Watch Program finances emerging content creators who are recent alumni of a partner educational institution, active members of partner cooperatives or recent participants of partner film festival incubator initiative, or who have directed a short film that was selected at a recognized film festival.

.
STORYLINE:
Sheila, a nineteen-year-old first-generation Canadian, is torn between being a doting Pakistani daughter and a free-spirited undergrad. As her two worlds increasingly clash, and Sheila is threatened with the loss of her childhood innocence and newfound first love, her mental health is pushed to the limit as she attempts to keep everyone around her satisfied.

.
CASTING:

SHEILA – LEAD ROLE – FEMALE – 18-24 YRS OLD – SOUTH ASIAN/MIDDLE EASTERN
PAYS $250.00 PER DAY
The eldest of three children, Sheila is her family’s backbone. She is fiercely independent and headstrong and determined to forge her own identity. Like many first-generation Canadians, Sheila struggles with a sense of belonging; she feels different and rebellious in comparison to the Pakistani girls she grew up with, yet not fully able to let go of those traditions and rules with her predominantly white University friends, who don’t think twice about drinking, partying and sex. Sheila feels an immense enormous sense of responsibility to take care of her parents and siblings financially and emotionally. On the surface, she is confident and gregarious, but Sheila keeps her anxieties bottled up and rarely expresses her feelings of isolation and inadequacies, and her grasp over reality begins to deteriorate as a result.
Must be comfortable appearing in underwear (tops and bottoms) with implied nudity provided by a body double.

ALIYA – SUPPORTING FOLE – FEMALE – 40-55 YRS OLD – SOUTH ASIAN/MIDDLE EASTERN
* NOTE: MUST BE FLUENT IN URDU.
PAYS $250.00 PER DAY
Alyia and her husband Azeem moved to Canada 10 years ago, when Sheila was 9 and her younger sister was 4. She had her youngest son in Canada and has been a stay at home mom nearly ever since. Alyia is the matriarch of the family and is feeling a loss of control similar to Sheila. Her husband, once the family’s breadwinner, is now unemployed yet unwilling to change their lifestyle. She has always given her children more freedom and independence than most mothers in their community, but still practices traditional values and gender roles and expects her children to do the same. She feels a new distance with her eldest daughter, Sheila, as she enters a world outside of their community and religion that Aliya is not allowed to be a part of. Aliya wants to keep up external appearances with her children and community in the midst of her and Azeem’s financial hardships but leans too heavily on Sheila while trying to protect everyone else.

AZEEM – SUPPORTING ROLE – MALE – 40-55 YRS OLD – SOUTH ASIAN/MIDDLE EASTERN
* NOTE: MUST BE FLUENT IN URDU.
PAYS $250.00 PER DAY
Azeem is the sterner, more traditional parent in Sheila’s household. Despite losing his job, he still wants to keep up appearances, and refuses to sell his car or accept help from those around him. He loves Sheila but there has always been a distance between them as they can both be stubborn and defiant in their beliefs. Azeem has always gone to work and taken care of his family and has an inflated sense of confidence. He does not notice Sheila’s distancing herself from their family at first, and worries it is too late once she detaches herself from them.

ASIM – PRINCIPAL ROLE – MALE – 8 YRS OLD – SOUTH ASIAN/MIDDLE EASTERN
PAYS $150.00 PER DAY
Sheila’s younger brother.

AMEERA – PRINCIPAL ROLE – FEMALE – 14 YRS OLD – SOUTH ASIAN/MIDDLE EASTERN
PAYS $150.00 PER DAY
Sheila’s younger sister.

FAROOQ – PRINCIPAL ROLE – MALE – 50-55 YRS OLD – SOUTH ASIAN/MIDDLE EASTERN
* NOTE: MUST BE FLUENT IN URDU.
PAYS $200.00 PER DAY
Friend of Azeem. A charismatic party host.

NADIA – PRINCIPAL ROLE – FEMALE – 40-45 YRS OLD – SOUTH ASIAN/MIDDLE EASTERN
* NOTE: MUST BE FLUENT IN URDU.
PAYS $200.00 PER DAY
Wife of Farooq.

FATIMA – PRINCIPAL ROLE – FEMALE – 21 YRS OLD – SOUTH ASIAN/MIDDLE EASTERN
PAYS $200.00 PER DAY
Engaging, sociable and independent. A family friend of Sheila’s.

FAIZA – PRINCIPAL ROLE – FEMALE – 40-45 YRS OLD – SOUTH ASIAN/MIDDLE EASTERN
* NOTE: MUST BE PROFICIENT IN URDU.
PAYS $200.00 PER DAY
Friend of Nadia and Aliya.

DR. IQBAL – PRINCIPAL ROLE – MALE – 40-55 YRS OLD – SOUTH ASIAN/MIDDLE EASTERN
PAYS $200.00 PER DAY
A friend of Sheila’s parents. A calm and kind doctor who gives Sheila an ultrasound.

USMAN – ACTOR ROLE – MALE – 18-25 YRS OLD – SOUTH ASIAN/MIDDLE EASTERN
PAYS $150.00 PER DAY
A college student, seen flirting with Fatima.