L

1
Léa Pool, Patricia Rozema, Atom Egoyan

• In the context of Québécois Directors Toronto
  New Wave

2
The Québécois Directorsweve had so far

• Montreal vu par
• Jacque Leduc (1941 - (Canvas of Time),
• Michel Brault (active since 1950s, "The Last
  Game),
• Denys Arcand (1941 -)
• (View from Elsewhere)
• Written by Paule Baillargeon nostalgic

• 2.
• 3.

3
The Québécois Directorsweve had so far (2)

• Night Zoo Jean-Claude Lauzon (1953-1997)
  father-son love

4
The Québécois Directorsweve had so far (3)

• Robert Lepage (1957-) born in Quebec city
• Le confessionnal, No father-son love, guilt
  from the past
• (source)

5
The Québécois Directorsweve had so far (3)

• All men
• All having to do with national identity (some
  symbolically)
• Not many non-French or visible minorities

6
The Québécois Directorsweve had so far (3)

• La Sarrasine Paul Tana (1947- ) Moved to
  Canada at the age of 11, after finishing
  elementary education.
• his other films also on Italian immigrant
  experience in Canada. So it could be that those
  types of themes make it problematic for me to get
  financed. But the reality is that my films did
  not make money,that is the problem, and that is
  why I do not make many films.

source
7
The Québécois Directorsanother outsider

• Léa Pool (1950 -) a Swiss-Jewish immigrant
  born in Switzerland,.
• Arrived in Québec in 1978.

Paule Baillargeon
source
8
Pool as an Outsider

• Themes her existential vision of alienation,
  lack of mother, uncertain sexual identities
• I feel much closer to Patricia Rozema and Atom
  Egoyan than to Denys Arcand,'' she acknowledges.
• (The creative land Canadian artists plumb the
  nation's heart and soul. (five artists'
  perspectives Maclean's. Johnson, Brian D.
  Steele, Scott Hluchy, Patricia
  
  07-01-1994 )

9
Pool on Referendum

• In the event of a referendum, she says, "I have a
  greater inclination to say Yes, because it's
  important to give us our place.''
• Yet Pool has qualms about nationalism.
  "Frontiers bother me. I'd rather open up than
  close things down. So it's neither a Yes, nor a
  No with eyes closed. It has a lot to do with how
  and when the question is posed.'' And if Quebec
  becomes independent, she wonders if that might
  rob its artists of their raison d'etre.
  Creativity comes from the lack of something. If
  there is no need to defend anything, there isn't
  the same drive to create.''

10
English Canadian Films

• Multicultural in 1990s.
• Sriniva Krishnas Masala (1991)
• Deepa Mehtas Sam Me (1991)
• Mina Shum Double Happiness (1994).
• Clement Virgo Rude (1995).
• Started with Atom Egoyans Next of Kin (1984).

11
Ontario/Toronto New Wave

• From Art-House to popular theatre
• Young Toronto-based filmmakers starting in
  1980s,
• Rejected both Hollywood films and their
  tax-shelter predecessors.
• urban, intimate, underdog, migrant. Educated
  and art-fueled. Not political. Not commercial.
  (Cameron 10)
• Two breakthroughs Mermaid (1987) Exotica
  (1994)

12
Ontario/Toronto New Wave

Left to Right David Cronenberg, Don McKellar
(writer/actor/director), Patricia Rozema, John
Greyson, Ron Mann, Bruce McDonald, Atom Egoyan
13
Rozema

• Born to a Dutch immigrant family in southern
  Ontario
• B.A. with double major in philosophy English
  literature.

14
Rozema

• Mansfield Park (1999)
• "Yo-Yo Ma Inspired by Bach" (1997) Bach Cello
  Suite 6 Six Gestures (1997)
• When Night Is Falling (1995)
• Montréal vu par... (1991) (segment "Desperanto")
• White Room (1990)
• I've Heard the Mermaids Singing (1987) Prix de la
  Jeunesse from Cannes 17 awards
• Passion A Letter in 16mm (1985)

15
Rozema on being Canadian

• . . . Its a country of immigrants, as opposed to
  America, which has an image as a melting pot. We
  have the image of a mosaic. My parents are from
  Holland. Thats more a part of my identity than
  being Canadian. A Dutch, Calvinist background,
  and I went to Dutch, Calvinist school from grade
  school through college. I went to Calvin College
  in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for several years.

16
Atom Egoyan

• Born in Egypt, of Armenian descent.
• Moved to Victoria, British Columbia in 1963,
  rejecting his root and refusing to speak the
  language.
• a college student in U. of Toronto, reconfirm
  with his own ethnic background.

17
Atom Egoyan

• Blind Assassin, The (2002)
• Felicia's Journey (1999)
• "Yo-Yo Ma Inspired by Bach" (1997) TV Series
  Cello Suite 4 Sarabande (1997)
• Sweet Hereafter, The (1997)
• Exotica (1994)
• Calendar (1993)
• Montréal vu par... (1991) (segment "En passant")
• Adjuster, The (1991) Speaking Parts (1989)
• Family Viewing (1987) Next of Kin (1984)