{"id":584725,"date":"2026-08-06T06:44:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T06:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/584725\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T06:44:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T06:44:19","slug":"from-toronto-film-school-to-the-oscars-saja-kilani","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/584725\/","title":{"rendered":"From Toronto Film School to the Oscars: \u00a0Saja Kilani"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tOn the day of her graduation from Toronto Film School<\/a>\u2018s Acting for Film, TV & the Theatre<\/a> program, Saja Kilani<\/a> was gifted a cake from a friend that read: \u201cHappy Grad! Next Stop: Oscars!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was meant simply as a gesture of encouragement \u2014 an affectionate prediction at a moment when Kilani\u2019s future still felt open and undefined.<\/p>\n

\n\tYet, less than four years later, the 28-year-old found herself standing on the very red carpet the cake had predicted \u2014 attending the 2026 Academy Awards<\/a> as part of the cast of The Voice of Hind Rajab<\/a>, which was nominated for best international feature<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tLooking back at the photo of that cake now, the message reads differently.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt felt surreal. A real full-circle moment, especially because it all happened so quickly,\u201d Kilani said. \u201cIt reminded me that sometimes the things we joke about or dream of out loud carry more truth than we realize. But what made it even more meaningful was that it came through a film that is so close to my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto Courtesy of Toronto Film School<\/p>\n

\n\tDirected by Kaouther Ben Hania<\/a>, The Voice of Hind Rajab tells the true story of a 5-year-old girl trapped in a car under fire in Gaza and her desperate calls to be rescued. Kilani plays Rana Faqih, the real-life Palestine Red Crescent Society volunteer who stayed on the line with Hind during her final hours.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor Kilani, a Jordanian-Palestinian-Canadian actress and poet, the role carried both artistic and personal weight.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPortraying Rana was about getting to know her on a personal level,\u201d she said. \u201cShe shared her story from her own perspective and, without trying to, showed me her courage. My role was to listen deeply and let that truth guide the performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat process of listening didn\u2019t end when filming did. Kilani has stayed in contact with Faqih since production wrapped, and the two have since become friends \u2014 most recently reuniting at a screening in Jordan as the film continued its international run.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cShe\u2019s an incredibly generous and passionate person, and she continues to show up for the story in such a powerful way,\u201d Kilani said. \u201cShe often tells audiences that they\u2019ve now become ambassadors for the film, which speaks to how deeply she believes in its message and its impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs the film moved through major international festivals and award circuits \u2014 including nominations at the Academy Awards, Golden Globes<\/a> and BAFTAs<\/a> \u2014 its audience expanded far beyond the region where the story originated.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSeeing Hind\u2019s story recognized on this level is deeply moving,\u201d Kilani said. \u201cIt feels like a breaking of silence. This kind of recognition helps open the door for the film to travel beyond our region and reach audiences who might not otherwise encounter Hind\u2019s story.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat door led, eventually, to Hollywood\u2019s biggest stage.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere were so many beautiful moments that night,\u201d Kilani said of the Academy Awards. \u201cBut what stayed with me most was being able to speak about Hind\u2019s voice on that carpet \u2014 a voice that was denied, now being heard on one of the biggest stages in cinema. That meant everything to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHart Massey<\/a>, director of the Acting for Film, TV & the Theatre<\/a> program at TFS, said watching Kilani\u2019s trajectory unfold has been a defining moment for the school\u2019s industry-active faculty.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhat sets TFS apart is that our programs are built around industry readiness and employability, not purely artistic training. We get students working and building portfolios as quickly as possible,\u201d he said. \u201cWatching Saja graduate and start building her career by landing a lead role in a film like this is hard to put into words. You just feel so much pride. I saw her film at the Toronto International Film Festival<\/a> and it had a profound impact on me. It\u2019s so moving and compelling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto Courtesy of Toronto Film School<\/p>\n

\n\tKilani\u2019s time training at TFS, she said, was defined less by a single methodology than by learning how to stay flexible in changing creative conditions. When she began the program, instruction was online due to the pandemic \u2014 an experience she initially worried would limit her development. Instead, she said it reshaped her approach entirely.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt actually pushed me inward; it strengthened my writing,\u201d she said. \u201cThen when we transitioned back to in-person, I felt more physically connected and ready to bring that work into my body. It taught me to focus on what\u2019s available to me in the moment, instead of what\u2019s missing, and that mindset stayed with me on set.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat writing practice never disappeared. Alongside her acting training at TFS, Kilani continued to develop poetry as a parallel discipline \u2014 one that ultimately deepened her access to performance itself, she said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWriting was my therapy, even during filming,\u201d Kilani explained. \u201cIt has become a dual practice, where both disciplines coexist and feed into each other. Poetry helped me access emotional truth more instinctively, and that definitely shaped how I approached Rana. It allowed me to listen more deeply, to feel beyond the lines, and to stay connected to the inner world of the character.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a film built around real testimony and real loss, the question of artistic responsibility loomed large. For Kilani, it was never experienced as a burden separate from the work \u2013 but as the work itself.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFor me, it felt like a rare alignment between my artistic purpose and my personal values,\u201d she said. \u201cThere is a responsibility that comes with telling a story like this, but it\u2019s one I carry with pride. Rather than feeling like a tension, it grounded me. It gave the work a deeper sense of intention and truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s a philosophy that, for Kilani, extends well beyond this one film. Her time at TFS prepared her to pursue theatre work as well, including her play Tales of a City by the Sea. She has also explored spoken word performances, presented a TEDx talk entitled The Mark That Made Me Fearless<\/a> at TEDx IE Madrid, and has consistently used her art to centre Palestinian stories and insist on their humanity.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFor me, art is advocacy,\u201d she said. \u201cWhether through theatre, poetry, or film, my work is about reclaiming the narrative and insisting on humanity. I believe creation is how we keep people alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFor Kilani, the TFS graduation cake that once felt aspirational now reads differently in hindsight \u2013 a snapshot of her hopes and dreams before the festivals, award circuits and Oscar red carpets became a regular part of her professional life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the day of her graduation from Toronto Film School\u2018s Acting for Film, TV & the Theatre program,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":584726,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,93,61,60,246942],"class_list":["post-584725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-toronto-film-school-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}