ATOM EGOYAN - Director

Team Deakins

James Ellis Deakins

Tv & Film, Filmlighting, Deakins, Movies, Filmmaking, Production, Film, Cinematography, Film Interviews

4.8 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 1 October 2025

⏱️ 95 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

SEASON 2 - EPISODE 161 - Atom Egoyan - Director

In this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast, we speak with director Atom Egoyan (SEVEN VEILS, THE SWEET HEREAFTER, EXOTICA) in an extended conversation. Atom was born in Cairo and raised in Canada, and his young love for theatre grew to encompass filmmaking after a hard rejection in college. Throughout our winding conversation, we discuss the creation of many of his films, and Atom asks us a few questions too! Atom’s films vary in their visual styles, and he frequently collaborates with cinematographer Paul Sarossy (Season 1, Episode 111), and he reveals how they first met and how they like to work together. Atom also shares why he restructured THE SWEET HEREAFTER in post, and we discuss the power of withholding information from the audience. We also learn why Atom chose to avoid a conventional historical drama when constructing ARARAT, a film about the Armenian Genocide, and we reflect on cinema’s ability to communicate the horrors of history.

Recommended Viewing: ARARAT, THE SWEET HEREAFTER

This episode is sponsored by Aputure & Sandstorm

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi and welcome to Season 2 of the Team Deacons podcast,
0:07.0	a collection of informal conversations between Roger and James Deacons and a guest.
0:13.0	We never know where the conversation will take us, so listen in and see where it goes.
0:21.9	This episode is sponsored by Aperture and its new Storm XT-52, the industry's most
0:29.5	powerful LED point source light. Brighter than a 6K HMI and powered by Aperture's revolutionary
0:36.8	Blair light engine, the Storm XT-52 is both a tunable
0:41.9	white light and also the brightest ever adjustable color LED. Storm XT-52, unrivaled output, only from
0:52.2	aperture.
1:04.0	This episode is sponsored by Sandstorm, the Technodali specialist now based at Ealing Studios in London.
1:13.8	The Technodali is a fully repeatable camera crane and motion control in one, allowing cinematographers to hand craft a shot,
1:21.0	and then repeat it instantly and frame accurately for visual effects. Find them on Instagram and YouTube at Sandstorm underscore films.
1:29.6	Today we're speaking with the director.
1:34.8	Among his credits are the sweet hereafter, Felicia's Journey, and Seven Veils.
1:37.6	We're pleased to welcome Adam McGowan.
1:40.3	Adam, thank you for doing this.
1:41.4	Yes, thank you.
1:42.8	Of course, it's an honor.
1:43.8	Great honor, really. I think we'll start with our regular
1:46.1	question, which is, how did you get to where you are today? Is this something that's always been in
1:51.0	your life, or did you find it later? Where did you grow up? What are your influences? I started doing
1:57.9	later in school. It was something that became really obsessive. I loved writing and directing plays. I was raised on the west coast of Canada. I was born in Egypt. My parents had met at art school in Cairo. They had a gallery in Cairo. When they came to Canada, they had this
2:20.0	crazy idea that they would set up a gallery in a very small city on the West Coast called Victoria
	...

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