The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is at its peak with an impressive lineup of both international and Canadian films, and among the highly anticipated films to watch is 40 Acres by R.T. Thorne.
Over the weekend, the Canadian film had its world premiere at TIFF Lightbox. 40 Acres is an Indigenous action/drama film that follows the Freeman family in a post-apocalyptic future where a family of farmers must fight for survival and protect their home from an organized militia determined to take their land.
The Freemans are the last descendants of a Black family of farmers who settled in Canada after the American Civil War. When the eldest son of the family, Emmanuel, meets a young woman named Dawn beyond the fence, he suddenly puts his whole family at risk to satisfy his desire for human contact.
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Now Toronto got the chance to speak to one of the film’s rising stars, Milcania Diaz-Rojas, a Dominican-Canadian actor who plays the role of Dawn.
Diaz-Rojas has been acting for the last eight years professionally. Her journey began as a young child in middle school at the Etobicoke School of the Arts. Last year, she graduated from the Canadian Film Centre where she learned how to hone and cultivate her craft.
Prior to 40 Acres, the actress previously starred in Homekilling Queen, Share, Don’t Hang Up and So What Now? Additionally, she’s made cameo appearances in the television series “Slip” and “The Bold Type.” 40 Acres marks the actress’ first major motion picture on the big screen.
“It is my first time being at TIFF and it’s really exciting. I feel like young me would be so proud of me, and I’m proud of myself too, but really, it’s been a journey. It’s obviously always a journey for everyone who gets to be at this type of premiere,” she said in an interview with Now.
“I don’t have any expectations because it is my first time, so I think that’s beautiful, and I think that I’m just going to try my best to soak it all in, like everyone’s been telling me to just be present, be there, enjoy every moment, and that’s what I plan to do,” she continued.
To prepare for the role, Diaz-Rojas says she made sure to read the script thoroughly to find traits of the character that resonated with her. Her coach Mitzi Jones also played an important role in helping her to bring out Dawn.
“…Making it as personal as I can to my own life or to my own experiences, and writing all the notes out of every, not every single beat, but of the moments that are happening. And I also met with my coach, which helped a bunch, because also, on top of the preparation part of it is the mental part of like, ‘OK, this is the role I was asking for,’” she said.
“This is the kind of stories that I want to be telling. This is fully aligned with where I want to be. So, then after that comes, all the outside noise, the self doubt, the imposter syndrome, but being prepared has definitely helped me with that because then I was able to get on set and really just play and really just do what I do,” she continued.
Diaz-Rojas found that connecting with her character was simple because they share similar values.
“I think with Dawn, it wasn’t too hard, because, you know, you fall in love, you want to protect your family. There’s so many things that were connected to me, and especially, being a mother was one that helped me, because I’m always going to protect my own, so that love comes from being a mother, I carried into the film,” she said.
In addition, she found that being placed in the sensorial circumstances of her character helped to understand her life. For instance, scenes where she’s tied up or running for her life.
When asked which cast mate she would want by her side if put in a post-apocalyptic world, the actress confidently chose Michael Greyeyes who plays Galen.
“…He’s just a well of knowledge, and I feel like he would have the best survival skills. But yeah, I think that I connected a lot with a lot of the castmates, so it’s hard to really choose one or the other…but Michael’s gonna help me get to the end there. It’s Michael for sure,” she said.
Diaz-Rojas hopes audiences will leave the film feeling moved and appreciative of the sense of community they have.
“I think that’s the main thing, regardless of anything that’s going on, having the importance of having community and coming together and just to appreciate everything that you have, and I want them to leave being like, ‘Wow, this is a different story, but it had so much heart. It was exciting. It was fun. There was moments of love in it,” she explained.
The actress hopes to continue representing her Afro-Latino community in the industry and continue to tell stories for Latinas. Going forward, she plans to explore other movie genres such as romance, comedy, drama and more. However, horror and working with demons is where she crosses the line.
“Moving forward, I would love to do romance. I would love to do comedy. I would love to do so many things. I feel like drama is where I’ve kind of set foot for myself, and I love it, so I will continue to do that, but I definitely want to do something like light, something fun, some comedy,” she said.
“I don’t like horror, not that I won’t ever do it, but heebie jeebies, you know. But, yeah, I do want to explore other things. I think that I will continue to write dramas, and I will continue to kind of explore different avenues of where I want to be,” she added.
