ARMENPRESS. Canadian-Armenian director Atom Egoyan, whose film “Seven Veils” opened the Yerevan Golden Apricot International Film Festival, emphasizes that the film symbolizes desire, longing, and strength.
Egoyan directed the opera “Salome” in 1990, and the film “Seven Veils,” which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2023, is based on the opera “Salome.” The film offers a gripping and vivid reimagining of Richard Strauss’ opera “Salome,” with actress Amanda Seyfried shining as a theater director striving to bring her own interpretation of the biblical story of Salome to life.
During a meeting with movie fans on July 8 as part of the “Golden Apricot” festival, the director stated that the production chain, which began in 1996, had a highly provocative aspect and had a significant impact on societies, being influenced by society as well.
“While shooting the film I wanted to go in a completely different direction. I wanted the main character to be a woman and created a whole story around that. I didn’t want it to be just my personal story. The main heroine is actually a fictional character, but I was able to feel her, to see that the character is a woman striving for peace. I created a new interpretation. What was on the stage was different,” said Egoyan.
At the age of 20-25, Atom Egoyan was primarily involved in theatre, but when he began directing films, he gradually moved away from the theatre. He admits that he couldn’t live solely through theatre art.
“The dilemma often leads an artist in another direction, where inspiring elements can be found, where you can create a world governed by definite laws. This becomes your theme,” he said.
According to him, the main character in the film “Seven Veils” has her own ideas; she aspires to direct opera, wants to recall her traumatic past, but when she reflects on the past, this trauma intensifies.
“From the very beginning, we didn’t expect the film to take this path. The return to the past is perhaps connected to my Armenian roots. Sometimes life leads us in strange ways. The present is awful, tragic, and we want to make our present better and see what happened a few years ago, and we get disappointed. What do we need? We want to communicate. This is what interests me and what I wanted to show,” emphasized Egoyan.
He believes that sometimes the film market can be disappointing, but one should make what they want, rather than follow market trends.
“If you want to talk about trauma, do it; if you want to talk about loneliness, you should do it,” said the director.
Returning to the movie “Seven Veils,” Egoyan stressed that everyone asked why the main character doesn’t do anything terrible at the end of the movie.
“People wanted it. Perhaps I could have allowed the heroine to take a terrible step, and it would have turned into a horror film, but I will never do such a thing,” he said.
Earlier, at a briefing with journalists, the director spoke about the “Golden Apricot” and noted that it is an exceptional festival for the country. Even in difficult times, it is able to gather prominent figures of culture and preserve cultural heritage.
The 21st Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival (GAIFF) will take place on 7-14 July this year.
Golden Apricot will present to the public films from different countries of the world in the competition sections, as well as films from top film festivals (Cannes, Berlin, etc.).
This year, the festival hosted such prominent guests as: two-time Oscar-winning director Alexander Payne, director Tarsem Singh, who is considered the ambassador of Parajanov all over the world, Atom Egoyan, Armenia’s ambassador to the world of cinema, world-famous actor of theater and cinema, Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey.
This year’s festival will place a special focus on the 100th birth anniversaries of renowned French-Armenian singer Charles Aznavour and filmmaker Sergei Parajanov.
