SEX, LIES AND AN UNUSUAL TAKE: EGOYAN SUSPECTS THE FURORE OVER HIS FILM IS DUE TO THE WAY THE SEX SCENES WERE SHOT
Ong Sor Fern , Film Correspondent
The Straits Times (Singapore)
April 26, 2006 Wednesday
EVER since his new film debuted at the Cannes Film Festival last May,
arthouse director Atom Egoyan has been talking about sex.
Over the telephone from his office in Toronto, the amiable 46-year-old
Canadian reveals a lively sense of mischief when he talks about
shooting explicit sex scenes.
‘It’s very liberating. I have fun and just enjoy it. Especially
knowing your characters are going to be punished for it and not you,’
the Egypt-born, Canada-raised Armenian chuckles uproariously.
Where The Truth Lies, which opened here last Thursday, is the most
mainstream offering from the director better known for boutique
arthouse fare like Exotica (1994) and the Oscar-nominated The Sweet
Hereafter (1997).
It tells of a journalist (Alison Lohman) who is determined to ferret
out the story behind the break-up of celebrated comedy act Vince
Collins (Colin Firth) and Lanny Morris (Kevin Bacon).
The truth involves a lot of torrid sex, including a three-way between
Firth, Bacon and actress Rachel Blanchard and a steamy lesbian scene
for Lohman.
In the United States, the censors slapped the movie with an NC17
rating instead of the Restricted rating the distributor was hoping for.
NC17 bars those under 17 from entry and is often associated with
pornographic films while an R rating allows minors entry if accompanied
by adults.
In the end, the film was released unrated in its original edit in the
US. In Singapore, the film has been passed uncut with an R21 rating.
The director says he is still bemused over the furore.
‘I’ll never know exactly why we fell afoul of them. My suspicion is
that they are not used to seeing actors of this renown in scenes that
are so exposed and shot in a high Hollywood studio style.
‘We’ve come to expect sex scenes to be shot in a very gritty way.
That may be the shock of the scenes.’
For the director, the sex was only part of the story he was trying
to tell in this adaptation of Rupert Holmes’ novel of the same name.
What intrigued him about the book was its insider’s perspective on
the cult of celebrity. Holmes is also a pop star best known for his
1979 novelty hit Escape (The Pina Colada Song).
Egoyan, who is married to actress Arsinee Khanjian, says: ‘What’s
interesting to me is not that we need celebrities, but what is the
toll on these human beings that we put into this position?
‘Are they capable of withstanding these pressures, especially when
they are the subject of so much projection, the contrast between the
very, very public and the very, very private in their lives.’
In his script adaptation, he chose to expand on the character of the
young journalist in order to explore this theme.
The director, who has also written original scripts, has made two
other book adaptations, The Sweet Hereafter (1997) and Felicia’s
Journey (1999).
Asked whether he prefers creating stories or adapting someone else’s
work, there is a thoughtful pause before he launches into a lengthy,
reasoned response.
‘Writing your own script, you are faced with a lot of moments of
crises. You always have to justify why the story needs to be told.
When you are adapting, its right has already been ascertained by
another artist.’
He adds a heartfelt confession: ‘I feel much more vulnerable when
I’m writing my own scripts.’
Besides less worry over the story, this film offered him a chance to
make old-school Hollywood glamour.
The detail-oriented director confesses that he was obsessed with things
like diffusion and colour lenses in order to achieve the right look
for the film.
‘Much of this film is told from the point of view of Lanny. Certainly
if he was hiring a director, he wouldn’t hire Atom Egoyan. He would
hire Stanley Donen or Vincente Minnelli,’ he laughs self-deprecatingly,
naming two directors who shaped the legendary MGM musicals of the
1950s.
But with this sleek film, he proves Lanny wrong.
Where The Truth Lies is showing in cinemas.
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‘My suspicion is that they are not used to seeing actors of this
renown in scenes that are so exposed and shot in a high Hollywood
studio style’.

ALIYEV’S VISIT IN US MEDIA SPOTLIGHT
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
April 26 2006
Baku, April 25, AssA-Irada
President Ilham Aliyev started his first official visit to the United
States on Tuesday.
Aliyev will hold a meeting at the Council on Foreign Relations on
Wednesday. On the following day, the president will open the sixth
business and investment conference of the US-Azeri Chamber of Commerce,
a source from the US embassy in Washington has said. The event will
be joined by high-ranking officials of the Azerbaijani government
and senior US politicians and analysts.
On Friday, President Aliyev will meet US counterpart George Bush
at the White House. Meetings have also been scheduled with US Vice
President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
The White House press service has said the two presidents will
discuss regional security, energy cooperation and democratic
development. Documents pertaining to economic and political cooperation
between the two countries will be signed during the visit.
The visit is in US media spotlight because Washington sees Azerbaijan
as its key regional ally and reliable partner. Observers believe that
the visit is an indication of the ever-strengthening cooperation
between Baku and Washington. Some maintain that the visit should
be looked upon from the angle of US-Iranian stand-off over Tehran’s
nuclear program.
An article in the Washington Post on Tuesday said President Aliyev had
succeeded in getting everything he wanted from the Bush administration,
as the US is now considering providing Azerbaijan with some sort
of assistance.
The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh will
also be high on the visit agenda. Washington wants to see Azerbaijan
a prospering and democratically developing country. The visit is
also taking place at a time when crude price in world markets is on
the rise.
The United States, which cooperates with oil-rich Azerbaijan, supports
the multi-billion dollar Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main export pipeline to
take Azeri oil to international markets.

A PIPELINE TO PROFITS AND TERRITORIAL TENSION
April 25, 2006 20 21 GMT
Stratfor
April 26 2006
Summary
As the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline moves toward operational
status, the Azerbaijani government stands to make a lot of money very
quickly. Most will likely go to President Ilham Aliyev, his clan and
the country’s defense budget (probably in that order). Meanwhile,
hostilities between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which occupies the
Nagorno-Karabakh territory within Azerbaijan, will likely escalate
and eventually erupt into renewed conflict.
Analysis
The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, which will bring oil from the
Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean, is scheduled to become operational
within two months. The income the pipeline will bring to Azerbaijan,
along with other energy projects, will reach approximately $2.8 billion
by the end of 2006. Though much of the money will go to President
Ilham Aliyev and his clan, the defense budget will benefit as well.
Any increase in military spending has been dismissed by Baku as purely
defensive, but the longtime ethnic and territorial conflict within
Azerbaijan suggests a future arms buildup and increasing hostilities
with the Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.
During a bloody conflict in the early 1990s, Armenians gained control
not only of Nagorno-Karabakh but also of a buffer zone and corridor
to Armenia. A tenuous cease-fire has been in place since 1994.
However, there has been some shooting over the Line of Control, and
the atmosphere is palpably tense. A recent meeting in France between
the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, as expected, brought the
two no closer to a solution.
With the influx of cash, Azerbaijan might purchase armaments and
vehicles from France, the United States or the former Warsaw Pact
countries, and the Azerbaijani military could receive instruction
from its U.S. ally. While the intensity of Armenian nationalism —
and the inferiority of the Azerbaijani military — has usually made
up for the smaller Armenian defense budget, the obvious imbalance in
funding will likely shift the equilibrium.
In 2005, Armenia’s national budget was $930.7 million, while the
Azerbaijani national budget was $2.986 billion. Azerbaijani defense
expenditures in 2005 reached approximately $300 million, according to
numbers from the Jamestown Foundation, and Aliyev has been quoted as
saying that Azerbaijan’s defense budget will soon match the entire
national budget of Armenia. While Armenia’s defense budget for 2005
was $100 million, it will increase in 2006 to $160 million.
Upon completion, the BTC pipeline, along with the already-operational
Baku-Supsa oil pipeline and the South Caucasus (Shah Deniz) natural
gas pipeline (which comes online in the fourth quarter of 2006),
will be the major contributor to the Azerbaijani economy. And the
BTC is ramping up quickly — currently, the pipeline fill is complete
through Azerbaijan and Georgia and is in the final stages in Turkey.
In 2007, production is expected to increase significantly as new
platforms come online in the Caspian Sea. The BTC will reach its full
capacity of 1 million barrels per day as early as 2008. Without even
including projected income from the Shah Deniz natural gas pipeline,
this will result in a dramatic increase in income for the Azerbaijani
economy.
Although it looks as if an Azerbaijani attempt to incorporate the
secessionist enclave is imminent, there are several factors that could
temper any aggressive move. Not the least of these are the many large
multinational corporations that have set up camp in the country,
running the numerous energy operations around Baku. Anything that
could jeopardize the extraction operations or the pipelines will
not be looked upon kindly by the people who brought Azerbaijan all
this income.
There are other vulnerabilities that could be exploited. The BTC and
the South Caucasus pipeline both come close to Nagorno-Karabakh and
secessionist regions within neighboring Georgia. Sabotage is quite
possible on the 1,094-mile-long pipeline, despite high security.
Moreover, all secessionists in the region are supported by Russia in
one way or another, and the patron might decide to cast a complacent
eye toward any sabotage, since the BTC circumvents Russia’s own
pipeline network.
The Armenians have shown they are willing to fight. They are also
quite politically powerful — the Armenian community in the United
States, which outnumbers Armenians living in their own country, has
an influential lobby in Washington. The delicate balance of the U.S.
alliance with Azerbaijan and U.S. support for Armenia will cause
Washington to do everything within its means to prevent the
remilitarization of the conflict.
However, nothing can prevent the escalation of an age-old blood
feud in a region where history means everything. Any quarrel can
be escalated to trigger renewed bloodshed. Slowly but surely, the
conflict will again come to a head, but this time, the Azerbaijani
side will be better-prepared, better-armed and better-financed,
gradually shifting the balance to its side.
for map, see
article.php?id=265269&selected=Analyses

AZERBAIJAN’S PRESIDENT ARRIVES IN US
Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
April 26 2006
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has arrived in the United States
on a trip whose agenda will be topped by Iran, energy supplies, and
Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed part of Azerbaijani territory controlled
since the early 1990s by its majority ethnic-Armenian population.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Watch calls on U.S. President George W.
Bush to press for reforms in Azerbaijan when he meets with Alikyev
on April 28.
The Azeri president’s office says the two leaders will discuss
“problems related to democratic developments,” as well as security
in the Caucasus and a range of other topics.

ZIYAFET ASKEROV MEETS WITH YOUTH ASSOCIATION OF TURKEY’S RULING PARTY
Today, Azerbaijan
April 26 2006
Ziyafet Askerov, first deputy chairman of Milli Majlis, received a
group of members of Youth Associaiton with Justice and Development
Party of Turkey.
Mr Askerov said Turkish-Azeri relationships are progressing rapidly
and informed the youth on activities of Azeri parliament. Further
he said Turkey always supported Azerbaijan in vital questions; to,
he informed the guests of the scheduled construction of railroad
between the two countries.
Speaking of Nagorno Karabakh conflict, vice-chairman also touched
the theme of Armenians’ groundless claims to Turkey about so-called
“Armenian genocide”, Trend reports with reference to press service
of Milli Majlis.
Head of Turkish delegation Hakan Tutunchu said Turkish Youth
organization considers significant the development of relations with
NAP’s youth organization and does its best to give these relationships
a permanent status.
URL:

SCHOOLCHILDREN AND THEIR DISABLED FRIENDS TOGETHER
Lragir.am
27 April 06
On April 27 an exhibition of children’s pictures entitled “School
for Everyone” was opened at the exhibition hall of UNDP. The event
was organized in the framework of the Global Call for Education,
which is an international campaign for the achievement of the second
goal of Millennium Development – Achievement of universal elementary
education by 2015. This is the fourth annual exhibition in the world,
held within the last week of April. This year about 80 countries of
the world joined the campaign.
In Armenia the disabled children also participated in this event. 15
schools of the regions of Armavir, Vayots Dzor, Tavush, and Yerevan
took part in the contest of pictures and essays. Out of 1000 works 54
pictures and 39 essays were chosen in the first round of the contest.
In the second round 5 pictures and 3 essays were chosen. The UN
Children’s Fund gave prizes to all the children who participated in
the contest. The schools received certificates.

ORUJOV: AZERBAIJAN DECISIVELY CONDEMNS ALL TYPES OF FASCISM
Today, Azerbaijan
April 26 2006
Representatives of all nations, residing in the territory of Azerbaijan
equally suffered from the Armenian fascism.
Even too earlier from Holocaust, the Armenian chauvinists killed in
1918 over 3,000 Jews in Guba District, north Azerbaijan, where Jews
lived for centuries, Hidayat Orujov, the state adviser on Azerbaijan’s
national policy, stated in an event to commemoration of the innocent
victims of Holocaust.
“Fascism is evil in all its manifestations. The horrors that Jews
endured in Europe in 1939-1945, are very intimate and clear to the
people of Azerbaijan, who also experienced the Armenian fascism,”
the state adviser underlined.
He reminded that Azerbaijan has recently hosted a conference of the
representatives of the country’s Jewish community. The event mulled
the details of the tragic event of 1918, when the Armenians staged
massacre in the north of the country. “Today the comprehensive
researches into the said facts are underway,” Orujov assured.
Baku decisively condemns any type of extremism, national hostility,
religious intolerance, violence, terror and genocide. “We are open for
cooperation with all countries, which support peace and stability,”
the state adviser underlined.
“Azerbaijan is near the Jewish people not only in the bitter minutes,
but also merry days,” Orujov added. The 58th anniversary of Israel
will be broadly marked in Azerbaijan on 3 May 2006.
URL:

TURKEY CRITICIZES HARPER FOR RECOGNIZING GENOCIDE
Guelph Mercury , Ontario, Canada
April 26 2006
Turkey yesterday criticized Prime Minister Stephen Harper for remarks
he made in support of recognizing the mass killings of Armenians during
the First World War as genocide, and warned that such statements may
harm relations. In a statement on April 21, Harper said Parliament
had adopted resolutions recognizing the killings as genocide and said,
“I and my party supported those resolutions and continue to recognize
them today.”
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry issued a stern statement saying it
“regretted” Harper’s remarks over the killings that occurred more
than eight decades ago.

TURKISH EMBASSY IN BAKU MAKES STATEMENT ON THE INFORMATION ON TERROR THREATS TO THE EMBASSY
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 26 2006
Turkish embassy in Azerbaijan made a statement on the information on
terror threats to the embassy. The embassy told APA that Azerbaijan
media spread exaggerated information and comments on the matter.
“Turkish Security Bodies cautioned the embassy against the probability
of terror acts in the embassy on April 24. We contacted relevant police
body and beefed up the police forces and strengthened the security
in the embassy. Azerbaijani official bodies reacted immediately and
send up additional forces to the embassy. Armenians stage protests
outside Turkish embassies in various countries every year on April
24-false Armenian Genocide day. There is a doubt that the threat may
be connected with Armenian society. There is no concrete information
confirming the source of intimidation to be Armenians. No actions were
held outside the embassy. We feel ourselves at home in Azerbaijan”.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FILM CHOICE
by Stephen Dalton
The Times (London)
April 25, 2006, Tuesday
NIAGARA (1953)
Channel 4, 1.20pm. Marilyn Monroe graduated to headline movie stardom
with an untypical role as a scheming femme fatale.
On the surface, Rose Loomis (Monroe) is visiting Niagara Falls in
an attempt to rekindle her marriage to George (Joseph Cotten). But
in reality she is waging a psychological war against her husband,
hatching a murder plot in which a young couple (Jean Peters and Max
Showalter) become fatally entangled. Henry Hathaway’s glossy thriller
is notable chiefly for Monroe’s smouldering, malevolent performance.
(92 min)
ALMOST FAMOUS (1999)
ITV2, 9pm/11.45pm. The writer and director Cameron Crowe revisited
his early career as a teenage reporter for Rolling Stone magazine in
the 1970s for this warm-hearted, lightly fictionalised memoir. The
fresh-faced newcomer Patrick Fugit is charming and gangly as the
young Crowe surrogate, a southern Californian mummy’s boy who ends up
sharing groupies and life lessons on the road with a bickering rock
band. Kate Hudson, Billy Crudup, Jason Lee and an Oscar-nominated
Frances McDormand co-star. Philip Seymour Hoffman also makes an
appearance as the legendary rock writer Lester Bangs. (122 min).
THE COLOUR OF POMEGRANATES (1968)
Artsworld, 10pm. Imprisoned and banned by the Soviet authorities for
his human rights activism and homosexuality, the Armenian director
Sergei Parajanov crafted an exquisitely beautiful, occasionally
impenetrable tribute to the 18th-century poet Sayat Nova in The
Colour of Pomegranates. Laden with religious and cultural symbols,
Parajanov’s absorbing visual poem eventually became an underground
festival hit in the West despite censorship at home. He returned to
film-making after his release from jail, dying in 1990 just as the
Soviet Union crumbled. (79 min)
The defendants, who were indicted Thursday, have been charged with
conspiracy, health care fraud, Medicare kickbacks, making false
statements to Medicare and money laundering.
The group allegedly was led by Konstantin Grigoryan, 56, of Altadena,
a former colonel in the Soviet army; his wife, Mayya Leonidovna
Grigoryan, 54; the Grigoryans’ son-in-law, Eduard Gershelis, 34, of
Los Angeles; Mayya Grigoryan’s brother-in-law, Aleksandr Treynker,
48, of Canoga Park; and Haroutyun Gulderyan, 36, of Tujunga.
The Grigoryans and Gershelis have been in federal custody since their
March 21 arrests. Gulderyan and Treynker have been released on bond.
The five are scheduled to appear in court June 13.
Gershelis’ attorney, Jerome Mooney, described the episode as “a very
unfortunate circumstance.” Attorneys for the other defendants did
not return phone calls from the Los Angeles Daily News seeking comment.
Last December, three operators of an Orange County clinic pleaded
guilty to charges they bilked insurers out of nearly $15 million by
operating on healthy people, authorities said.