EGOYAN’S BIG YEAR
Director has a major award, a TSO film tribute and a new movie to look forward to,
“This is a little discombobulating,” remarked Atom Egoyan, squirming in a swivel chair, staring at the screen, not quite believing what we were seeing and what we were not seeing.
A laugh-inducing technical glitch was threatening to undercut a great and serious moment for Egoyan. But he, more than anyone, with characteristic modesty and good humour, savoured the irony and humour of the situation.
The good news: Egoyan is about to be celebrated as one of Canada’s cultural treasures, winning a hugely prestigious Governor-General’s Performing Arts Awards for lifetime achievement. And the announcement was being made just days before a Toronto Symphony Orchestra concert marking the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide — the event that has loomed over both the work and the life of Egoyan for decades.
He is famous for many reasons, but one of them is his near-obsessive interest in many of his movies with the use of technology and how it can sometimes distance people. And for a few minutes, botched technology turned the news of a milestone award for Egoyan into what seemed like a satiric scene from one of his own movies.
Egoyan was in a meeting room on the fourth floor of the TIFF Bell Lightbox, joined by a few witnesses to watch the live streaming of the announcement of the winners of the 2015 Governor-General’s Performing Arts Awards, to be presented at a glitzy gala at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on May 31. Once the moment passed and we could move beyond technology, what loomed large was how in the spring of 2015 pieces of the Egoyan phenomenon are reaching a crescendo at once.
The Armenian genocide became world news when the Pope deliberately used the G word — prompting a rift between the Vatican and the Turkish government, which has always refused to acknowledge there was a genocide in the final years of the Ottoman Empire.
Egoyan tackled the subject of the genocide in his 2002 movie Ararat, which was met by threats and complaints from pro-Turkish protesters. Since then, Canada has officially acknowledged the genocide, but the U.S. still has not.
Ararat will get a big cultural salute in Toronto on Wednesday, when the anniversary of the genocide will be marked with a special concert showcasing the music of Armenia. One high point will be the premiere of a 20-minute piece called “Ararat,” by the distinguished composer Mychael Danna, commissioned by the TSO based on the score Danna wrote for Egoyan’s movie.
“The Pope’s comments have had a huge impact,” Egoyan explained the other day, “but even before that we were very aware this anniversary is a great opportunity to celebrate our heritage.”
Egoyan grew up in Victoria in one of the only Armenian families on Canada’s West Coast. Both his parents are painters, who met at art school in Egypt. And his sister, Eve, is a noted musician.
Virginia Thompson, who is producing the May 31 gala, plans to focus not just on Egoyan’s films but his astonishing cultural range, which includes directing opera, plays and visual art installations.
“I still get nourishment from theatre and opera,” Egoyan said, citing as high points his recent revival of Die Walkure for the Canadian Opera Company, and directing Michael Gambon in a memorable half-hour Samuel Beckett play called Eh Joe. That production drew huge acclaim in Dublin, London and New York, but I wish we could see it in Toronto, Stratford or Niagara-on-theLake.
This year looms as the culmination of Egoyan’s amazing career, with Die Walkure and the TSO’s salute to Ararat segueing into the Ottawa honour in May. Egoyan has won countless awards over the years in Toronto, Ottawa, Cannes, Hollywood and elsewhere, but the circle of GGPA winners is a very small and special club.
After a summer break, Egoyan’s 2015 reaches a peak with the world premiere in the fall of his latest movie, Remember. Once again, genocide is the subject.
Produced by Robert Lantos, who also partnered with Egoyan on Ararat and many other movies, Remember is a road movie, Holocaust memorial and thriller combined. It stars Christopher Plummer as a survivor hunting down the Nazi who wiped out his family.
“I loved working with Chris and I think this is a crowning role for him,” says Egoyan.
Although Egoyan has had a hugely successful run at the Cannes Film Festival, Remember will bypass the Riviera because last year, Egoyan’s movie The Captive was booed at the press screening.
“It was a brutal morning,” Egoyan recalls. “There seemed to be a gang mentality. It was so intense, it seems like yesterday.”
So when it came to returning to Cannes, Egoyan says, “I felt this was way too soon.”
That said, the world premiere of Remember will take place at one of the fall film festivals. I’d bet on TIFF or Venice.
And I feel confident that if Remember premieres in Toronto (as I hope), the projection will go off without a hitch. mknelman@thestar.ca