Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan was born in Cairo, Egypt in 1960 to an Armenian/Egyptian family, and grew up across the world in Victoria, British Columbia. His familiy was artistic, his parents painters and a sister a concert pianist, and though not...
[more]Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan was born in Cairo, Egypt in 1960 to an Armenian/Egyptian family, and grew up across the world in Victoria, British Columbia. His familiy was artistic, his parents painters and a sister a concert pianist, and though not a film student at the time (he was taking International Relations at the University of Toronto,) he made his first film in his first year, with backing from the Hart House Film Board. He'd been captivated with the possibilities of film, and continued to make shorts all through his studies in the early 1980's. One of them was broadcast nationally by the CBC, and his career was begun. Features and TV followed, until til 1989 film Speaking Parts was shown at Cannes. In 1994, his film
Exotica won the Interational Critics' Prize at Cannes, and international attention. The film revolves around a nightclub where Bruce Greenwood goes to brood over his ex-girlfriend's performances in a fragmented narrative of intercut and non-chronological stories. 1997's The
Sweet Hereafter was his biggest financial and critical success, telling the story of four characters in a rural town in the aftermath of a bus accident that kills 20 schoolchildren.
He returned to his Armenian roots in telling the clever film within a film story
Ararat, which opened to critical acclaim in 2002.
Adoration, his latest release (2008) explores lies and truth in the digital age within a family story. Its underlying themes of dislocation, fragmented histories, isolation and alienation are common to much of his work.
His latest production Chloe, a remake of the French film Nathalie, is currently in hiatus. His wife, actress Arsinee Khanjian has appeared in most of his films.
Image by Magnus Manske, at the Third Golden Apricot Film Festival, February 18, 2007 in Yerevan, Armenia.
Filmography:
Moving the Arts (2010)
Chloe (2009)
Adoration (2008)
Citadel (2006)
Where the Truth Lies (2005)
Ararat (2002)
The Line (2000)
Felicia's Journey (1999)
Bach Cello Suite #4: Sarabande (1997)
The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
A Portrait of Arshile (1995)
Exotica (1994)
Calendar (1993)
Montréal vu par? (1991)
The Adjuster (1991)
Speaking Parts (1989)
Family Viewing (1987)
Men: A Passion Playground (1985)
Next of Kin (1984)
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