Ararat : The movie of Atom Egoyan
Translation

 

Atom Egoyan, réalisateur canadien d'origine arménienneWorld Premiere: May 20th, 2002, Cannes Film Festival (out of competition)
Distributor: Miramax Films
Production Companies: Alliance Atlantis Motion Picture Company, Serendipity Point Films (Sunshine, Stardom)
Cast: David Alpay, Charles Aznavour, Eric Bogosian, Brent Carver, Bruce Greenwood (Dr. Clarence Ussher), Elias Koteas, Christopher Plummer, David Alpay, Raoul Bhaneja, Marie-Josee Croze, Arsinee Khanjian

 

Director: Atom Egoyan
(The Sweet Hereafter, Exotica, Felicia's Journey, Calendar, The Adjuster)

Director Note: This is surely a deeply personal project for Atom Egoyan, an Armenian-Canadian. His 1993 movie, Calendar, was filmed and set in Armenia.

Screenwriter: Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter, Exotica, Felicia's Journey, Calendar, The Adjuster)

Based upon: This film addresses the true (and rarely discussed) 1915-1917 holocaust of over a million and a half Armenians by the Ottoman Empire. Indeed, the lack of attention given to the Armenian slaughter has been attributed to bolstering Hitler's confidence that Germany could "get away" with killing Jews. Ararat is a province of Armenia. Genocide Memorial Day is on April 24th, remembering the fateful 1915 date when the slaughter was officially begun.

Premise: This film-within-a-film follows the production of a historical epic about the holocaust (1915-1923) of 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, focusing on how it changes the life of a young man (Alpay) working as a driver on the set. (Greenwood plays the actor who plays Clarence Ussher, an American doctor who ran a mission in Turkey; all of the actors who play actors will essentially be playing two roles as the film switches perspective from within and outside the historical epic Ararat is about; Aznavour plays the director)

Genres: Drama, Historical
Official Director Site: EgoFilmArts.com (Nothing there about this project as of 4/19/01, but there may be soon)

  • ARARAT is Atom Egoyan’s most provocative film to date. It is a story about truth and denial – on both an intimate and a grand scale. The estranged members of a contemporary Armenian family are faced both with Turkey’s denial of their catastrophic past and with their own complicated present: A mother who only wants peace, a young woman who wants nothing but retribution, and a young man whose jouney to uncover his roots is jeopardizing his future. Told in Egoyan’s trademark elliptical style, ARARAT is at once a mysterious and powerful story about determining truth.

Affiche de l'édition 2002 du festival de Cannes

Festival de Cannes 2002 (15-26 mai 2002)

Ararat est présenté à Cannes 2002 dans la sélection officielle hors compétition.
Atom Egoyan était déjà présent à Cannes avec Speaking Parts (Caméra d'or) en 1989, The Adjuster (Caméra d'or) en 1991, Exotica (compétition officielle) en 1994, De beaux lendemains (The Sweet Herreafter) (compétition officielle) en 1997 et Le Voyage de Felicia (Felicia's Journey) (compétition officielle) en 1999.

 

Links :

 

In french
Vives réactions de la Turquie
Avant même la sortie du film, la Turquie est déjà très irritée par ce film qui montre la réalité du génocide arménien de 1915-1917 perpétré par la Turquie. Pour mieux comprendre ces réactions, le CDCA vous propose un dossier. Il sera mis à jour régulièrement en fonction de l'actualité.