Atom Egoyan

A stylish and highly assured filmmaker, Egyptian-born Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan produced work that combined self-reflexive meditations on the nature of film and video, examinations of psycho-sexual behavior and a black, ironic sense of humor. Often ruminating on the themes of fractured families, voyeurism, obsession and technology, Egoyan emerged in the mid-1980s as a director to watch with early films like "Next of Kin" (1984), "Family Viewing" (1987) and "Speaking Parts" (1989). He made a big splash with the highly-charged erotic drama, "Exotica" (1994), which was a favorite at the Cannes Film Festival before earning an art house release in the United States. But it was his exemplary drama "The Sweet Hereafter" (1997) that earned him some of the greatest acclaim of his career, as well as two nominations at the Academy Awards. From there, he earned wider attention for "Felicity's Journey" (1999), "Ararat" (2002) and the Palme d'Or-winning "Where the Truth Lies" (2005). Egoyan remained one of the most challenging and talked-about directors on the international scene.