Meet 2 of Ottawa's young stars turning heads at TIFF

Courtney Shannon Caines and Sladen Peltier, it's time for your close-ups.

The pair of young Ottawa actors walked the red carpet at the Toronto International Film Festival for the first timeafter Caines starred in a new filmby acclaimed director Darren Aronofsky, and Peltierappeared in another movie based on a novel by respected Canadian authorRichard Wagamese.

"I was very nervous for it! I wasn't sure what to expect or what would be happening," Caines told CBC Radio's All in a Day earlier this week. "But yeah I had a really good time."

Cainesstars inmother!, a psychological thriller starring Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem as a married coupleliving in a bucolic home she's lovingly restoringafter a mysterious tragedy.

The pair's quiet life, however, is turned upside-down and their relationship tested by the arrival of bizarre, uninvited guests.

• We definitely made a different ride': Darren Aronofsky on mother!

'Disturbing' film leaves impression

In order to keep the film's various twists a secret, Caines said shewould only get scripts for the scenes she starred in and only on the day those scenes were shot.

The 16-year-old had to swear her own mother to secrecy, and only saw the finished film in its entirety when it screened earlier this week in Toronto.

While she kept her promise to not reveal the film's plot, she did tellAll in a Dayhost Alan Neal that the "disturbing" film left an impression.

"I get scared really easily! And it's not just a current scare it lingers," she said. "So I'll be doing something else, and I'll still bescared."

• Listen to her interview onCBC Radio'sAll in a Dayhere

Indian Horse Peltier'sfirstrole

Peltier, meanwhile, stars in Indian Horse, a film based on the novel of the same name byWagamese.

Indian Horse tells the story of Saul Indian Horse, an Ojibwayboy sent to residential school who finds respite in the game of hockey.

• Public gets 1st look at Indian Horseahead of TIFF premiere
• Why Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese is meaningful to Shelagh Rogers

Peltier plays Saul as a young boy. He got the role not because of an extensive acting resum, but because his mom picked up a flyer while he was in Toronto for a hockey tournament.

"So she asked me, 'Do you want to audition for a movie?' And I was like, 'Yeah!'" the 10-year-oldtold CBC News recently. "I didn't think I was going to get it, because it was my first time ever auditioning for a movie."

The film's producers interviewed hundreds of kids from across North America for the part, but in the end went with Peltier in part because the young hockey player already possessed serious on-ice skills.

"I started playing hockey with my dad when I was two years old. [I've been at it] a pretty long while," he said.

"Saul would be the kind of guy who always thinks before he speaks. He's having a really tough time with residential schools, but hockey keeps his mind out. It's like a distraction."

TIFF runs until Sept. 17.