Family Viewing, which ultimately deals with Van's oedipal conflict with his father, helped make Egoyan a known commodity in the film world. This visibility was increased through a highly publicized incident at the Montreal Film Festival, in which veteran director Wim Wenders handed first prize to Egoyan after winning for Wings of Desire.

"Of all my films, I still love Family Viewing the most," Egoyan says, which might surprise those familiar with his recent work. "It was an incredibly personal expression on my part and I'm still very proud that I was able to execute it so early in my career. I think it has a genuinely heroic character with a rich reward to gain, I just love the humor and I think the format is particularly interesting." Egoyan notes that he's looking forward to the screening of Family Viewing at the Film Archive, because it will be a 35mm print being shown on a large screen. "The projection of this film is very important, especially in terms of format and the way it was shot," Egoyan states.

The Film Archive will also be screening five of Egoyan's short films-Howard in Particular, Peep Show, Open House, En Passant, and A Portrait of Arshile-on Saturday night. Although these films were basically released "off the radar" as Egoyan puts it, they are still important works to him on a personal level. "I've always been interesting in the way thinking has become a kind of ritual and how we do many things without being consciously aware of it. I think there's certainly a facet of absurdity in human nature and I wanted to explore its impact on human nature, especially in works like Peep Show and Open House."

Oh What a Tangled Web We Weave: The Adjuster and Exotica

In the 1990's, Egoyan began to explore the complex web of human relationships, as well as the dark secrets lurking behind those relationships, in two particularly disconcerting films: The Adjuster in 1992 and Exotica, a twisty thriller that many view as his breakthrough, in 1994. Neither film should be watched with the expectation of a story that moves fluidly from point A to point B. Egoyan's focus is on the complex connections between his characters, and thus, the normal conventions of time and structure take a backseat to this desire. "I wanted to make a film about believable people doing believable things in unbelievable ways," Egoyan has always said about The Adjuster. After seeing the film, a wicked black comedy that involves an insurance adjuster, film censors, an ex-football player, a lamp merchant, a podiatrist, and a butterfly collector among others, critic Roger Ebert mused that Egoyan must love puzzles, paradoxes, and card tricks.

"I vaguely remember Roger saying that, but it's completely untrue." Egoyan laughs. "I really don't have the patience for those sort of things. I don't try and write my screenplays as if they are puzzles-rather, I start with the pieces and work from there. I know it's a stereotype, but there is the sense that many Armenians like making rugs. It's actually true in my case. I like to see The Adjuster and Exotica as more of weaving a tapestry than putting a puzzle together."

Exotica, which takes place in the forbidden world of an erotic dance club and also brings together an eclectic group of characters, was celebrated by most critics as Egoyan's final maturation into one of the industry's foremost independent filmmakers. Although Egoyan keeps a special place in his heart for his early films, he does view Exotica as a kind of culmination. "I definitely saw Exotica as a summation of many of my recurrent themes-at the time, I believed that I had gone as far as I could with original material and it was time to move onto something new. Interestingly, Exotica was probably my greatest commercial success (rather than The Sweet Hereafter) and it really gave me my first taste of how the Hollywood system works."

The World of Books: The Sweet Hereafter and Felicia's Journey

Believing that he had exhausted his ideas for original material with Exotica, Egoyan decided it was time to turn to the literary world. Egoyan eventually chose Russell Banks's The Sweet Hereafter, a relentlessly bleak story about the aftermath of a tragedy in which fourteen children are killed in a school bus accident. The result was an infinitely subtle and heartbreaking film that found its way onto over 200 top ten lists.

The Sweet Hereafter proved to be a landmark film for Egoyan because, against virtually all odds, it garnered Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. For those who think that independent filmmakers look down their nose at the Oscars, Egoyan serves as a striking contrast to that notion.

"The morning of the nominations was like a dream," he fondly recalls. "I viewed it as such a triumph-for this small, independent film to get recognized like that, I was truly honored. And the whole period between the nominations and the awards show was just wonderful. Plus, it was pretty obvious that Titanic was going to sweep, so I didn't feel any pressure."