Atom Egoyan: biography and films

The famous Canadian director Atom Egoyan won the Cannes Festival three times . He impressed the authoritative jury with a variety of themes that are touched upon in his paintings, and professional techniques. Drama, thriller, tragedy and even detectives - in all these genres, Atom Egoyan has already shown himself with equal success. The biography of the director is no less interesting and deserves attention as an example of the successful career of an expat who achieved success with talent and hard work.

Childhood and youth

Atom Egoyan was born in the capital of Egypt in 1960 in an Armenian family. When my son was three years old, my parents went to Canada in search of a better life. At first they lived on the proceeds of a small furniture store, which Egoyan Sr. could barely open. There was always a shortage of money, so he decided to send Atom's grandmother to a nursing home where she would be provided with medical care. According to the director's recollections, he was so upset that for a while he even refused to speak Armenian. By the way, this topic formed the basis of one of the first paintings by Egoyan - the film "Family Review", whose 17-year-old Van, an Armenian from the 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 his return to Toronto, Egoyan entered and graduated from the local university in two specialties: "Playing the Classical Guitar" and "International Relations".

Debut in the cinema

Even during his studies at the University of Toronto, Atom Egoyan (photo above) was carried away by writing plays. There he also made his first short film, which was shown in the framework of the Canadian Festival of Student Creativity. A successful debut served as an impetus to the creation on the last year of the university of another picture - the "Open House", which was shown on local television.

The beginning of film career

In 1984, with money from the sale of rights to the painting "The Open House", the young director withdrew his first feature film "The Nearest Relative." It tells the story of a young man who departs from ever-quarreling Protestant parents and finds shelter in an Armenian émigré family where he is seen as a distant relative. The painting was a success and won the "Golden Ducat" prize in Mannheim. In addition, she became the debut for the wife of Atom - the Canadian actress of Armenian origin Arsine Khanjyan, who later starred in many films of her husband.

Atom Egoyan: filmography

The second full-length picture of the director "Family Review" 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 specialists to him, made him start talking about the birth of a new star of Canadian cinema. Then followed a whole series of films, many of which were quite successful and received prizes at famous film reviews. In particular, one can note such paintings by Egoyan as "Insurance agent", "Exotica", "Glorious future", etc. And the last film received the Grand Prix in Cannes and was nominated for an Oscar in 1997.

"Ararat"

Atom Egoyan, whose films are known all over the world, could not bypass the issue of the genocide of the Armenian people. On one of the main roles in his film "Ararat" he invited Charles Aznavour. The great chansonnier played a director who shoots a picture of the famous American artist of Armenian descent, Arshile Gorky, who miraculously escaped the massacres and lived all his life with memories of the terrible crimes of the Young Turks. The film was shown at the Cannes Film Festival outside the competition and won the "Canadian Oscar" (the "Gini" award) as the best film of 2003. In addition, for the script, Egoyan was awarded the Guild of Writers' Award of Canada. At the same time, despite the fact that at the moment the fact of genocide of the Armenian people was recognized by the Pope, the European Parliament and such countries as Russia, Germany, France and many others in the early 20th century, continues to deny it, protesting and criticizing the picture .

Last works

Atom Egoyan made several interesting films over the past 10 years. Among them:

• "Citadel".
• "Adoration".
• "Chloe."
• "The Invisible World."
• "Devil's Nest".
• "Captive".
• "Remember".

Great interest in the audience was caused by 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 picture "Remember" to the audience. She received two prizes at the film festival in Calgary and nominations in other famous cinematic forums. The film keeps the viewer in suspense until the last minute and has an unexpected ending. He talks about the elderly who survived in the concentration camp during World War II, who met in a nursing home. They learn that the cruelest of their torturers, after the defeat of the Nazis, moved to North America and lives under the name of Rudy Kurlander. One of the old men - Zev - decides to find him and take revenge. The problem is that there are four people with this name in the States and Canada. So an elderly man begins to visit the homes of possible criminals, learning the details of their lives, until finally finds his victim-executioner. And then the alleged Rudy Kurlander accuses Zev that he himself is a former Nazi, trying to escape from justice.

Now you know who Atom Egoyan is. The paintings of this director are so diverse in content and style that among them one can find one that will arouse his interest.