The Toronto International Film Festival has hired a new gun to shore up its Southeast Asian program, and on Thursday appointed Raymond Phathanavirangoon to its team for this year’s festival. He comes with a strong Asian film portfolio, having served as international programmer for the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival and, before that, working for the Hong Kong International Film Fest.

‘Asian cinema continues to thrive internationally, ‘ sais TIFF co-director Cameron Bailey in a statement. ‘This appointment confirms our ongoing commitment to bringing the best in Asian cinema to our Festival audiences.’

Phathanavirangoon will be co-programming Asian films with programmer Giovanna Fulvi. He will be in Cannes with the group’s delegation hoping to scout films from Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Fulvi will continue to program titles from mainland China, Japan and South Korea.