Egoyan, Atom

Atom Egoyan, filmmaker (b at Cairo, Egypt 19 July 1960). Of the generation of writer-directors to emerge in the 1980s, including Bruce MCDONALD, Patricia ROZEMA, Guy MADDIN and Jean-Claude LAUZON, none has been as acclaimed or influential as this cerebral and unconventional filmmaker.

Keywords

Born in 1960

Directors & Producers, Film

Born to Armenian parents in Egypt, he moved with his family at a very young age to Victoria, BC, an experience in cultural displacement he has often cited as a profound influence on his life and work. Recurring themes in Egoyan's work such as alienation, voyeurism and the futile pursuit of emotional fulfilment can be seen as the director's attempt to express the condition of cultural dislocation.

After attending public school in Victoria, Egoyan moved to Toronto to study International Relations at the University of Toronto. There, he became intensely involved in campus theatre as a playwright, and, as did David CRONENBERG before him, made his first films.

Egoyan's work, personal as the motivations behind it may be, evokes profound public resonance, nationally and internationally. Since his first feature, Next of Kin (1984), premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival his international reputation has grown. Family Viewing (1987) was named Best Canadian Feature Film at the 1987 Toronto International Film Festival. Speaking Parts (1989) and The Adjuster (1991) were both invited to debut at the Cannes Film Festival in France. EXOTICA (1994) was invited into the coveted Official Competition category at Cannes and went on to become the most successful English-Canadian movie export since the resolutely low-brow Porky's in 1981. By 1997, only Cronenberg, whose influence on Egoyan's work is obvious and profound, rivalled the younger filmmaker's international prominence.

Egoyan's rise in the world of international film became evident with the release of The Sweet Hereafter (1997), his first screenplay based on another work, in this case a novel by American Russell Banks. Premiered in 1997 at the Cannes Film Festival, winner of 8 Genie awards in Canada and nominated for 2 awards at the 1998 Academy Awards in Hollywood, THE SWEET HEREAFTER was a critical, if not a box office, success. Felicia's Journey (1999), based on a novel by Irish author William Trevor, is Egoyan's first film set outside Canada and the first to be non-independently produced.

After directing a one-hour film version of Samuel Beckett's play, Krapp's Last Tape (2000), Egoyan turned his full attention to writing and directing the feature film Ararat. Ararat had its world premiere out of Official Competition at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. Starring Charles Aznavour and Christopher PLUMMER, Ararat is a drama about the personal, cultural and historical repercussions of the 1915 Armenian genocide in Turkey.

In 2005, he directed Where the Truth Lies, a thriller starring Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth as a comedy duo implicated in the murder of a female fan. The film received mixed reviews and failed at the box office in both Canada and the US.

Stylistically and narratively, Egoyan's work has been influenced by Cronenberg's clinical detachment, expositional minimalism and resolute intellectualism. But Cronenberg's remoteness from the emotional undercurrents of his characters is counterpointed by Egoyan's genuine interest in the causes, effects and permutations of diminished human interaction in the electronic era. Egoyan's films all end on nearly operatic emotional epiphanies and are rooted in the romantic search for self-fulfilment through intimacy. He is capable of producing moments of profound and intentional hilarity.

In addition to making 9 feature films, Egoyan has also directed several television episodes and one made-for-TV movie. In 1996 he directed the CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY'S Toronto production of Salome, and wrote the libretto for Elsewhereless (1998), a chamber opera on which he collaborated with Canadian composer Rodney Sharman. Egoyan has also served on several international film juries at the world's most prestigious film festivals.

Egoyan, Atom
Film director Atom Egoyan (photo by Johnnie Eisen/courtesy Alliance International).

Adjuster (Film Still)
Arsinee Khanjian staring as "Hera" in Atom Egoyan's "The Adjuster" (courtesy Telefillm).

Author GEOFF PEVERE Revised: TOM MCSORLEY

Links to Other Sites

Sarah Polley
A biography of Sarah Polley, acclaimed director, screenwriter, and actor. Also offers a listing of Polley’s film and video work. From the Film Reference Library.

Atom Egoyan
This site features a biography of award winning director, producer, and screenwriter Atom Egoyan. Also provides a listing of Egoyan’s film and video work. From the Film Reference Library.

Genie Awards
Your online gateway to Canada’s prestigious Genie Awards. From the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television.