The famous Canadian director Atom Egoyan won the Cannes Film Festival three times . He impressed the most authoritative jury with the variety of topics that are touched on in his paintings and professional techniques. Drama, thriller, tragedy, and even detective stories - in all these genres, Atom Egoyan has already managed to prove himself with equal success. The director’s biography is no less interesting and deserves attention as an example of a successful emigrant career, achieved success by talent and hard work.
Childhood and youth
Atom Egoyan was born in the capital of Egypt in 1960 in an Armenian family. When his son was three years old, his parents went to Canada in search of a better life. At first, they lived on income from a small furniture store, which Egoyan Sr. could hardly open. There wasn’t enough money constantly, so he decided to send Atom’s grandmother to a nursing home, where she would be provided with medical care. According to the director, he was so upset that for a while he even refused to speak Armenian. By the way, this theme formed the basis of one of Egoyan’s first films - the film “Family Watch”, whose hero, a 17-year-old Van from an Armenian-Canadian family, not only visits his grandmother, as the young Atom did, but also takes her home.
But this is after, and before that, he and his sister were sent to study in British Columbia, and upon returning to Toronto, Egoyan entered and graduated from the local university in two specialties at once: “Playing the classical guitar” and “International relations”.
Movie debut
Even during his studies at the University of Toronto, Atom Egoyan (photo above) was carried away by writing plays. There he shot his first short film, which was shown as part of the Canadian Student Festival. The successful debut served as an impetus for the creation of another picture in the last year of the university - “Open House”, which was shown on local television.
The beginning of a film career
In 1984, with the money received from the sale of the rights to the picture “Open House”, the young director made his first full-length film “The Next of kin”. It told the story of a young man who leaves his ever-quarreling Protestant parents and finds refuge in an Armenian expatriate family, where he appears to be a distant relative. The painting was a success and received the Golden Ducat prize in Mannheim. In addition, she made her debut for the wife of Atom, a Canadian actress of Armenian descent Arsine Khanjyan, who later starred in many films of her husband.
Atom Egoyan: filmography
The second full-length picture of the director “Family Watch” was presented at twenty festivals and received many prizes. Egoyan’s innovative techniques, which he showed during the filming of this film, attracted the attention of experts, forced to talk about the birth of a new star of Canadian cinema. This was followed by a series of films, many of which were quite successful and received prizes at famous film screenings. In particular, one can note such paintings by Egoyan as “Insurance Agent”, “Exotica”, “Glorious Future”, etc. Moreover, the last film received the Grand Prix at Cannes and was nominated for an Academy Award in 1997.
"Ararat"
Atom Egoyan, whose films are known all over the world, could not get around the topic of the genocide of the Armenian people. He invited Charles Aznavour to one of the main roles in his film "Ararat" . The great chansonnier played a director who shot a picture of the famous American artist of Armenian origin Arshile Gorky, who miraculously escaped the massacre and lived his whole life with memories of the terrible crimes of the Young Turks. The film was shown at the Cannes Film Festival out of competition and received the Canadian Oscar (Gini Award) as the best film of 2003. In addition, for the script, Egoyan was awarded the Canadian Writers Guild Prize. At the same time, Turkey, despite the fact that at the beginning of the 20th century the fact of the genocide of the Armenian people was recognized by the Pope, the European Parliament and such countries as Russia, Germany, France and many others, continues to deny it, protesting and criticizing the picture .
Last works
Atom Egoyan has made several interesting films over the past 10 years. Among them:
- "Citadel".
- "Adoration".
- Chloe.
- The Invisible World.
- "The Devil's Knot."
- "Captive."
- "Remember".
The audience was very interested in the picture "Chloe", in which the main roles were played by Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore, Amanda Seyfried, Nina Dobrev and Max Thierio.
Last year, director Atom Egoyan presented his film “Remember” to the audience. She received two prizes at the Calgary Film Festival and nominations at other renowned film forums. The film keeps the viewer in suspense until the last minute and has an unexpected denouement. He talks about old people who survived in a concentration camp during World War II, who met in a nursing home. They learn that the most brutal of their tormentors, after the defeat of the Nazis, moved to North America and lives under the name Rudy Courlander. One of the old men - Zev - decides to find him and take revenge. The problem is that four people with the same name live in the States and Canada. So an elderly man begins to visit the houses of possible criminals, learning the details of their lives, until he finally finds his executioner victim. And here the imaginary Rudy Courlander accuses Zev of the fact that he himself is a former Nazi, trying to hide from justice.
Now you know who Atom Egoyan is. The pictures of this director are so diverse in content and style that among them everyone will be able to find one that will cause his interest.