A master of unconventional storytelling, Atom Egoyan has pushed the boundaries of cinema with his deeply psychological and thought-provoking films. Known for The Sweet Hereafter and Exotica, his work explores themes of memory, loss, and identity. His unique approach to filmmaking has earned him international recognition, proving that art thrives when creators dare to challenge norms. Egoyan's career inspires filmmakers to tell bold, meaningful stories that leave a lasting impact.
"I mean, if you are directing actors to do one thing and then directing them to do something else entirely because the one thing you wanted them to do may not work, then you are just shattering their confidence in the project."
"When I was planning Family Viewing, the Ontario Film Development Corporation came into existence."
"Working on the themes I was interested in, through the context of a particular family, was a very economical way of dealing with a lot of the issues I was concerned with."
"When you make a film like this, you must have the highest expectations of your audience. Having worked in situations where we have the lowest expectations of our audience."
"I have always felt that this story is universal. When I began to understand the details of the history, I felt that the most compelling aspect was not what happened, but what continues to happen and how it is denied."
"As a producer, I think one of the most important decisions you make is not necessarily the material you are working on but the production apparatus that you choose to develop the project with, and that determines what funding you go to, it determines many factors."
"You are traveling and see these people shooting the entire experience of going through a city, and maybe in the back of their minds they sustain the illusion that they will edit it all, but I don't think that's it."
"I think ultimately if you have a very high expectation of your audience and you know exactly what it is you're trying to express through the medium of film, there will always be an audience for you."
"It was very important that it be done in such a way that it be executed with complete conviction. If I had done it both ways, if I was trying to cover myself in case it didn't work, then it would have been to no purpose."
"It is not as though the process of production holds any mystery for me, I know exactly what it involves and I know the predominant concern in shooting one of those things is production values - or as they would say, seeing it all up there on screen."
"It is about this very abstract sense of displacement that he feels the moment he turns off the television."
"The programme has ended, something has finished, and he has a sense of something having finished its course, and then all of a sudden he turns away and this other thing has just finished its course, this other person."
"The father's greatest folly is that he believes he can be a much more simple person than he is; he is not really able to deal with his own complexity as a human being."
"There is a certain moment in the film when the son is in the nursing home and he goes to the television and turns it off because he sees himself in the image."
"I wanted to make sure that the environment of the shooting itself was not that controlled, and the way to go about that course was to work with as small a crew as possible."