Atom Egoyan - Lectures / Seminars / Workshops

FILM ART: A Study of Cinematic Language (3 credits)

Atom Egoyan

Description: The course will investigate selected critical and theoretical perspectives on Egoyan's body of work with regard to such leit motifs as the representation of technology and technology as representation, exile and the displacement of meaning, perception, voyeurism, innocence, and the "pathology of the visual". The essays in the collection Image and Territory, selected by the filmmaker to accompany the investigation of his work, will act as the structuring principle for the course modules. Themes explored in the course will include fetish and aura, memory, mediation and identity, language and desire, alienation, isolation, ocular distance and surveillance.

Objectives: This course aims to expand the concepts of representation within technology through an in depth analysis of the cinematic works of Atom Egoyan. Through a combined focus on theoretical text and film we engage questions of identity as they become represented in film. As we examine Atom Egoyan’s films we will question the process of creating film and the watching films. Forever focusing on ocular distancing and the increasing scope of surveillance we will engage contemporary debates and discourse within film criticism.

Learning Outcomes: Students shall become versed in applications of critical theory to visual mediums. We will leave the course with an enhanced ability to engage technology and its visual manifestations. Through questioning exile and voyeurism we connect the notions of vision and displacement as they apply to our current artistic and political climate. We will aim to inspire and cultivate an atmosphere open to questioning and creativity.

Course Schedule:

Module 1
A Cinema of the Senses; The Corporeal

Module 2 Fetish and Aura

Module 3
Memory, History Narrative

Module 4
Gaze, Communication, and Desire

Module 5
Technology as Representation

Module 6
Media Technologies, Aura and Redemption

Module 7
Exile of Meaning

Module 8
Pathology of the Visual

Required Readings:

Burwell, J., & Tschofen, M. “In Media Res: Atom Egoyan's Utopian Praxis." in: Tschofen, Monique and Jennifer Burwell. Image And Territory: New Essays on Atom Egoyan. Wilfrid Laurier University Press. February 1, 2006. Paperback, 426 pages, Language English, ISBN: 088920487X. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr. (pp. 21-28).

Baronian, M. “History and Memory, Repetition and Epistolarity." in: Tschofen, Monique and Jennifer Burwell. Image And Territory: New Essays on Atom Egoyan. Wilfrid Laurier University Press. February 1, 2006. Paperback, 426 pages, Language English, ISBN: 088920487X. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.

Mookerjea, S. "Montage in Spatial Ethnography: Crystalline Narration and Cultural Studies of Globalization." in: Symploke. Vol. 9, No. 1-2, pp. 114-131. 2001.

Gruben, P. “Look but Don't Touch: Visual and Tactile Desire in Exotica." in: Tschofen, Monique and Jennifer Burwell. Image And Territory: New Essays on Atom Egoyan. Wilfrid Laurier University Press. February 1, 2006. Paperback, 426 pages, Language English, ISBN: 088920487X. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr. (pp. 249-274).

Foster, H. "Obscene, Abject, Traumatic." in: October. Vol. 78,Autumn 1996, p. 106-124.

Foster D. "J.G. Ballard's Empire of the Senses: Perversion and the Failure of Authority." in: PMLA. Vol. 108, No. 3, May 1993, p. 519-532.

Harcourt, Peter. "Imaginary Images: An Examination of Atom Egoyan's Films." in: Film Quarterly. Vol. 48, No. 3, Spring 1996. (English).

Del Rio, Elena. “Fetish and Aura: Modes of Technological Engagement in Family Viewing." in: J. Burwell, & M. Tschofen (eds) Image and Territory: Essays on Atom Egoyan. (pp. 29-52).

Freud, Sigmund. “Three Contributions to the Theory of Sex.". 1920.

Benjamin, Walter. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. 1936.

Egoyan, Atom and T.J. Morris (Editor). Atom Egoyan: Interviews. University Press of Mississippi. June 1, 2010. Hardcover, 224 pages, Language English, ISBN: 1604734868. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr. Paperback, 224 pages, ISBN: 1604734876. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.

Required Films:

Egoyan, Atom. The Adjuster. Alliance Entertainment. 1991. 102 min, Starring Elias Koteas, Arsinee Khanjian, Maury Chaykin, Gabrielle Rose, Jennifer Dale. DVD, ASIN: B000059H95. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.

Egoyan, Atom. Felicia's Journey. Alliance Atlantis Communications. 1999. 118 min. Starring Brid Brennan, Bob Hoskins, Arsinee Khanjian, Gerard McSorley, Elaine Cassidy. DVD, ASIN: B00003CWQ0. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.

Egoyan, Atom. Exotica. Alliance Entertainment. 1994. 103 min, Starring David Hemblen, Mia Kirshner, Calvin Green, Elias Koteas, Bruce Greenwood. DVD ASIN: 6305428107. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.

Egoyan, Atom. The Sweet Hereafter. Alliance Communications Corporation. 1997. 112 min, Starring Ian Holm, Caerthan Banks, Sarah Polley, Tom McCamus, Gabrielle Rose. DVD, ASIN: 0780622251. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.

Egoyan, Atom. Ararat. Alliance Atlantis Communications. 2002. 115 min, Starring Brent Carver, Bruce Greenwood, Arsinee Khanjian, Elias Koteas, Christie MacFadyen. DVD, ASIN: B00005JLR5. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.

FILM ART: Cinematic Architecture (3 Credits)

Atom Egoyan

Description: Students will engage with the various inovative works of Atom Egoyan. Through this examination we will generate a collective commentary that reflects upon the conceptual architecture behind the cinematic gaze. Specifically we will focus on two feature films, Exotica and Adoration. Both of these films have no director's commentary and this course is essential to understanding the philosophical and artistic process that led to the creation of these films. The class will engage in an interactive dialogue between filmmaker and students as they explore how to take ideas and investigate them through art pieces.

Objectives: The course intends to provide insight into the conceptual architecture of Egoyan's filmmaking process. The instructor seeks to push students to criticize, to reflect, and to locate the artistic and philosophical pulls that create provoking films. We will question what it means for a work to be successfull. We will then examine what does it mean for a work to be incomplete, can a film ever be complete? And we will examine the process of editing, what to leave out and why these decisions matter.

Learning Outcomes: Students will understand the intellectual considerations taken in image-making. This is essential in the historical moment we find ourselves in today, where image-making has become an essential fabric of the everyday experience. This course will show the array of vigorous and complex decisions that must be faced by those involved in artistic practices. Students will use the material from the course to add to their personal art projects and their dissertation projects.

Course Outline:

Module 1
View Exotica

Module 2
Interactive Commentary on Exotica

Module 3
View Adoration

Module 4
Interactive commentary on Adoration

Module 5
Interactive Commentary of Chloe

Module 6
View installations and shorts; interactive commentary and conclusion.

Required Readings:

Egoyan, Atom and T.J. Morris (Editor). Atom Egoyan: Interviews. University Press of Mississippi. June 1, 2010. Hardcover, 224 pages, Language English, ISBN: 1604734868. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr. Paperback, 224 pages, ISBN: 1604734876. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.

Ondaatje, Michael. The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film. Hardcover, 368 Pages, Language English, ISBN: 0375413865. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.

Romney, Jonathan. Atom Egoyan (BFI World Directors). Paperback, 226 Pages, Language English, ISBN: 0851708775. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.

Wilson, Emma. Atom Egoyan. Paperback, 184 Pages, Language English, ISBN: 0252076206. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.

Recommended Films:

Hitchcock, Alfred. Vertigo. DVD, 128 Minutes, Language: English, Subtitles English, Spanish, French. ASIN: 0783226055. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.