OurWindsor.ca
April 18 2015
Atom Egoyan’s very big year
Director to receive Governor-General’s lifetime achievement award, TSO
salutes Ararat and his new film, Remember, debuts in the fall
By Martin Knelman
“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 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-the-Lake.
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.
Ararat composer seeks reconciliation
“I was astounded by the richness I found in Armenian music, from the
early church chant, the court music and the folk music,” says
Winnipeg-born composer Mychael Danna, who wrote the music for many of
Egoyan’s films and won an Oscar for The Life of Pi.
At the TSO’s Wednesday concert, “These haunting melodies will be
played by Armenian folk instrument musicians, along with the TSO and
the incomparable soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian,” the composer says.
“On the 100th anniversary of what is in fact continuing violence,
through the official denials of this historical event, I offer up this
work to the memory of those who suffered and continue to suffer, in
hopes of reconciliation, forgiveness and the brotherhood of all men.”
Toronto Star