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ATOM EGOYAN'S CLOSE-UP
Mitch Potter
Toronto Star, Canada
May 7 2007
Centre Pompidou screens Egoyan's films, adds all his work to its
archives
PARIS-Toronto filmmaker Atom Egoyan has had his share of recognition,
but nothing quite like the life-before-your-eyes reception given in
his honour over the weekend in the French capital.
For a man who first laid hands on a film camera simply to spite a
University of Toronto dramatic society that turned down his first
play, Egoyan now finds himself a quarter-century later having his
entire body of work incorporated into the archives of the influential
Centre Pompidou of Paris.
For the next month, Egoyan's filmography is to be screened at the
Pompidou in the most comprehensive retrospective of his work ever
undertaken. The curatorial staff of the centre will then draw together
the materials into its archives, giving Egoyan a perpetual place at
one of Europe's most respected art institutions.
During Thursday's opening reception, Egoyan was taken aback at
the rare artistic air into which his work has been drawn. Running
concurrently at the Pompidou is a major retrospective of Irish
novelist and playwright Samuel Beckett, and in another Pompidou
gallery is an exhibition of Armenian-American artist Arshile Gorky,
whose work Egoyan admires deeply.
And when the Pompidou staff asked Egoyan to add his name to the
museum guest book, the last signature entered was that of Nobel
laureate Harold Pinter, a voice that lands on Egoyan's short list of
key inspirations.
"The Beckett show, the Gorky exhibition and then seeing Harold
Pinter's signature. It's just sheer coincidence, but all these
different influences converging really brought home how meaningful
it is to be shown at the Pompidou," Egoyan told the Star.
Egoyan's work has found a considerable foreign audience. But nowhere
is the enthusiasm quite as pronounced as in France, where Egoyan was
twice awarded the Cannes festival's Camera d'Or prize for Speaking
Parts (1989) and The Adjuster (1991).
Egoyan explains that passion says more about France than it does the
merits of his own work. He cites as an example the current issue of
a leading French film magazine in which the current crop of French
presidential candidates speak expansively of their film influences.
"That's extraordinary," said Egoyan. "And I don't think it happens
anywhere else in the world. Film is so vital to France that pretty
much everyone understands it to be an essential part of their cultural
makeup."
Though Egoyan admires that passion from afar, he counts among his many
blessings the fact that it was Canada that attracted his parents as
the best destination of opportunity.
"I think about it all the time, the fact that as survivors of the
Armenian genocide we could have ended up just about anywhere.
Certainly my grandparents, who were orphaned by the genocide, never
received Ottoman citizenship.
"And my parents, though like me they were born in Egypt, never
received citizenship. It wasn't until we came to Canada when I was
a young boy that finally this was a place that would make us citizens."
Issues of identity and displacement have resonated hauntingly
throughout Egoyan's work since his first full-length film, 1984's
Next of Kin. However fascinating Egoyan finds such themes, his sense
of personal identity is clear.
"Not to sound maudlin, but Canada has given me a sense of who I am
and where I am. I absolutely love France, yes, but it would be very
difficult to be a young filmmaker here because you are constantly
oppressed by everything that has gone on before you. There is an
awful weight on the shoulders of European filmmakers my age.
"Canada doesn't have the same crushing weight of tradition. Of course,
I was very aware of tradition during my filmmaking journey in Canada. I
was raised on NFB documentaries, the work of Norm McLaren, the whole
notion of cinema verite, the Don Owen movies. And, of course, I was
hugely influenced by David Cronenberg's work.
"But I always felt it was possible to create a place within that
cultural map. There is this sense of being able to be a part of the
making of something that is still fresh."
For a filmmaker known for his obsessive approach to thematic study,
the Pompidou's curatorial staff has been equally obsessive in their
quest to assemble everything he has done. A bit too obsessive, in fact,
for comfort.
"It's a little strange how complete this is and how absolutely
determined they are to show everything. For example, I was quite clear
with them I didn't see the point of showing the pilot I did for the
Friday the 13th television series. The fact is that to support my
independent filmmaking in the 1980s I was doing Twilight Zone and
Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and they were really just jobs.
"But it's part of the oeuvre, as they say in Paris. They've uncovered
things I haven't seen since I made them and they are screening all
of it."
French film buffs are believed to have first encountered Egoyan's
work as an accidental digression from the elevated interest here in
Quebec cinema. Now, having discovered Egoyan, a window appears to be
opening for a closer look at English Canadian cinema.
A few days ago, for example, the French daily Liberation dedicated
a full page of breathless critical praise to Winnipeg filmmaker Guy
Maddin. This weekend also saw positive notices for the Paris launch
of Away From Her, the first feature directed by Canadian actor
Sarah Polley.
"It is long overdue, but the French are finally catching up with the
original and crazy vision of Guy Maddin," said Egoyan. "Between the
praise for Guy and the launch of Sarah's film, this has been a big
weekend for English Canada in Paris."
Mitch Potter
Toronto Star, Canada
May 7 2007
Centre Pompidou screens Egoyan's films, adds all his work to its
archives
PARIS-Toronto filmmaker Atom Egoyan has had his share of recognition,
but nothing quite like the life-before-your-eyes reception given in
his honour over the weekend in the French capital.
For a man who first laid hands on a film camera simply to spite a
University of Toronto dramatic society that turned down his first
play, Egoyan now finds himself a quarter-century later having his
entire body of work incorporated into the archives of the influential
Centre Pompidou of Paris.
For the next month, Egoyan's filmography is to be screened at the
Pompidou in the most comprehensive retrospective of his work ever
undertaken. The curatorial staff of the centre will then draw together
the materials into its archives, giving Egoyan a perpetual place at
one of Europe's most respected art institutions.
During Thursday's opening reception, Egoyan was taken aback at
the rare artistic air into which his work has been drawn. Running
concurrently at the Pompidou is a major retrospective of Irish
novelist and playwright Samuel Beckett, and in another Pompidou
gallery is an exhibition of Armenian-American artist Arshile Gorky,
whose work Egoyan admires deeply.
And when the Pompidou staff asked Egoyan to add his name to the
museum guest book, the last signature entered was that of Nobel
laureate Harold Pinter, a voice that lands on Egoyan's short list of
key inspirations.
"The Beckett show, the Gorky exhibition and then seeing Harold
Pinter's signature. It's just sheer coincidence, but all these
different influences converging really brought home how meaningful
it is to be shown at the Pompidou," Egoyan told the Star.
Egoyan's work has found a considerable foreign audience. But nowhere
is the enthusiasm quite as pronounced as in France, where Egoyan was
twice awarded the Cannes festival's Camera d'Or prize for Speaking
Parts (1989) and The Adjuster (1991).
Egoyan explains that passion says more about France than it does the
merits of his own work. He cites as an example the current issue of
a leading French film magazine in which the current crop of French
presidential candidates speak expansively of their film influences.
"That's extraordinary," said Egoyan. "And I don't think it happens
anywhere else in the world. Film is so vital to France that pretty
much everyone understands it to be an essential part of their cultural
makeup."
Though Egoyan admires that passion from afar, he counts among his many
blessings the fact that it was Canada that attracted his parents as
the best destination of opportunity.
"I think about it all the time, the fact that as survivors of the
Armenian genocide we could have ended up just about anywhere.
Certainly my grandparents, who were orphaned by the genocide, never
received Ottoman citizenship.
"And my parents, though like me they were born in Egypt, never
received citizenship. It wasn't until we came to Canada when I was
a young boy that finally this was a place that would make us citizens."
Issues of identity and displacement have resonated hauntingly
throughout Egoyan's work since his first full-length film, 1984's
Next of Kin. However fascinating Egoyan finds such themes, his sense
of personal identity is clear.
"Not to sound maudlin, but Canada has given me a sense of who I am
and where I am. I absolutely love France, yes, but it would be very
difficult to be a young filmmaker here because you are constantly
oppressed by everything that has gone on before you. There is an
awful weight on the shoulders of European filmmakers my age.
"Canada doesn't have the same crushing weight of tradition. Of course,
I was very aware of tradition during my filmmaking journey in Canada. I
was raised on NFB documentaries, the work of Norm McLaren, the whole
notion of cinema verite, the Don Owen movies. And, of course, I was
hugely influenced by David Cronenberg's work.
"But I always felt it was possible to create a place within that
cultural map. There is this sense of being able to be a part of the
making of something that is still fresh."
For a filmmaker known for his obsessive approach to thematic study,
the Pompidou's curatorial staff has been equally obsessive in their
quest to assemble everything he has done. A bit too obsessive, in fact,
for comfort.
"It's a little strange how complete this is and how absolutely
determined they are to show everything. For example, I was quite clear
with them I didn't see the point of showing the pilot I did for the
Friday the 13th television series. The fact is that to support my
independent filmmaking in the 1980s I was doing Twilight Zone and
Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and they were really just jobs.
"But it's part of the oeuvre, as they say in Paris. They've uncovered
things I haven't seen since I made them and they are screening all
of it."
French film buffs are believed to have first encountered Egoyan's
work as an accidental digression from the elevated interest here in
Quebec cinema. Now, having discovered Egoyan, a window appears to be
opening for a closer look at English Canadian cinema.
A few days ago, for example, the French daily Liberation dedicated
a full page of breathless critical praise to Winnipeg filmmaker Guy
Maddin. This weekend also saw positive notices for the Paris launch
of Away From Her, the first feature directed by Canadian actor
Sarah Polley.
"It is long overdue, but the French are finally catching up with the
original and crazy vision of Guy Maddin," said Egoyan. "Between the
praise for Guy and the launch of Sarah's film, this has been a big
weekend for English Canada in Paris."