ATOM APLOMB
South China Morning Post
March 16, 2006 Thursday
Director Atom Egoyan set out on his latest venture as a step into the
unknown, but discovered, much to his dismay, that old obsessions have
a way of creeping back in, writes Clarence Tsui
ATOM EGOYAN shudders when he remembers his last visit to Hong Kong.
It was 18 years ago and he was here at the behest of the Hong Kong
International Film Festival, at which his critically acclaimed second
full-length feature Family Viewing was shown. The highlight of the
night was to be a post-screening meet-the-audience session.
“Nobody asked questions,” says the Canadian director, remembering the
stony silence. “And I brought my mother with me. I wanted her to see
how exciting it could be – but it wasn’t what I thought.”
This time around, the reception couldn’t have been more different.
Egoyan was in town last week as guest of honour at the local
Canadian Film Festival – his latest film, Where the Truth Lies,
was the curtain-raiser for the two-week event – and the 46-year-old
director was feted wherever he went.
The red-carpet treatment hasn’t gone to his head. Settling into his
couch, the first thing he asks is how long it takes for mail-order
DVDs to arrive in Hong Kong from overseas. Then he launches into
an passionate recollection of a shopping spree in Yau Ma Tei the
night before, where he found DVDs he has never seen anywhere else,
and original production stills of Blowup and Rashomon.
Such enthusiasm for trivia is testament to Egoyan’s reputation as an
idiosyncratic director. At the same time that he was directing Colin
Firth and Kevin Bacon in Where the Truth Lies, he was: screening his
no-budget digital video pieces at Camera, a 51-seat theatre-cum-bar
he helps run in Toronto; preparing for a production of Wagner’s Ring
Cycle; and writing a book about the cultural meaning behind film
subtitles (which was published last year).
“I want to be able to use my position to support emerging talent and
give it a space of its own,” he says. “The great thing about the bar
and the cinema is that when filmmakers show their digital features,
there can be discussion with their friends about it – and I’m proud
to be able to present this zone. But it’s tough to programme it all
the time.”
He’s able to support such work, thanks to his major projects. And Where
the Truth Lies is probably his biggest and most commercial film yet.
Taking the shape of a noir thriller, Truth revolves around the
mysterious death of a young student, Maureen (Rachel Blanchard), in the
hotel room of a Rat Pack-like 1950s comedy duo (Firth as straight guy
Vince, and Bacon as his partner Lanny). The narrative takes place in
1972, 15 years after that incident, when young journalist Karen (Alison
Lohman) is commissioned to interview the pair – whose partnership
collapsed after the death – with a view to writing an expose.
But Karen does more than just interview the pair. First, she goes
to bed with Lanny; then, she gets involved in a night of steamy
shenanigans under the aegis of Vince. It slowly emerges that Karen’s
motives are far more than just financial or sexual: her pursuit of
the “truth” is as much about exonerating her own past – she was the
beneficiary of a charity telethon the duo starred in – as it is a
quest for justice.
Known for his subtle, slow-burning films, Egoyan surprised many with
what could qualify as a conventional whodunit. Even more surprising was
the amount of bare flesh in Truth. The cast appear in various stages
of undress, including a no-holds-barred menage-a-trois that earned
the film a Category III rating in Hong Kong (and an NC-17 in the US).
It’s a far cry from his last film, Ararat, a heavy piece that examines
the Armenian genocides in 1915 and 1918. Ararat won five Genies
(Canada’s annual film awards) in 2003, among them best film and best
actress (Arsinee Khanjian, Egoyan’s wife, who has starred in nearly all
of his films). The success didn’t translate to box-office receipts –
but it seems likely that Truth will do much better.
Egoyan – born to Armenian parents in Cairo, but raised in Victoria,
British Columbia – says he adapted Rupert Holmes’ pulp thriller as a
piece of light relief. “After Ararat, I needed to do something really
different,” he says. “I remember when I read the book I was laughing
because it was so pleasurable. And I thought this is exactly what I’ve
been looking for – something so different from what I’ve done, to get
that pure enjoyment of filmmaking, creating these images and this world
with the costumes, art direction and the music. It would just be fun.”
It was also a sharp departure for his cast, Egoyan says. “One of the
reasons Colin did this film was that he got to deconstruct this persona
he felt he was imprisoned by,” he says. “As we were shooting he was
doing all the Bridget Jones [sequel] promotion and he was suffocated
by this Darcy character. He really loved this idea of deconstructing
that and stripping all that away – literally.”
The same goes for Bacon, he says. “Kevin just wanted to take risks.
So many other people that I might have approached would never play
these roles because they’re so vulnerable, but I got two people who
are, first and foremost, actors. And for Alison Lohman, who’s 26,
the characters she played before in Matchstick Men and White Oleander
were adolescents, and she wanted to break out of that mould. I think
everyone was attracted to the project because they’re redefining
themselves and not playing what people would expect.”
Leaving aside the glamour and sleaze, Truth is similar to Egoyan’s
more subdued productions. His films touch on how technology mediates
and transforms experiences – whether it be homemade videos (Family
Viewing, in which a father “erases” past memories by taping porn
over images of his ex-wife and son), movies (a director conjuring
the Armenian genocide through a film in Ararat), or voice recordings
(Krapp’s Last Tape, his film adaptation of the Samuel Beckett play,
in which the sole protagonist agonises over decisions he made, through
audio journals from his life). It’s no coincidence that Karen’s taped
interviews, the comfort she feels in rewatching old reels of Larry and
Vince’s telethons, and Maureen’s covert use of a recording machine in
the pair’s hotel room just before she dies provide the keys to Truth.
Egoyan’s obsession with the topic goes all the way back to his first
short film, Howard in Particular. Made in 1979 when he was studying
international relations at the University of Toronto – Egoyan never
went to film school – it’s a peculiar piece in which an aged worker
at a fruit-processing factory is told about his redundancy via a
tape recording.
Awards from local film festivals allowed Egoyan to continue making
independent short films while still at university (his first few pieces
were backed by Hart House, the university’s arts and recreational
centre). Provincial funding bodies contributed later on, with Ontario
Arts Council sponsoring his first feature, Next of Kin (1984), about
a young man who transforms his life by claiming to be the long-lost
son of an Armenian-Canadian family.
After spells directing episodes for Canadian and American television
– including Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone – Egoyan wrote
and directed Family Viewing, which propelled him into the limelight.
He has become a favourite at European film festivals: Speaking Parts
(1989) and The Adjuster (1991) both made it to the Director’s Fortnight
showcase in Cannes, but his major breakthrough was Exotica (1994),
a multi-layered intrigue about several dysfunctional characters
frequenting a table-dance club. It won the International Critics’
Prize at Cannes, an achievement Egoyan matched three years later with
The Sweet Hereafter.
Unlike David Cronenberg, the other, better-known Canadian director of
his generation, Egoyan basically sealed himself off from portraying
mainstream concerns – until now. He says making Truth was a step into
the unknown. Having completed the film, he discovered that a rebirth
is easier said than done.
“It was only when I started editing Truth that I realised it was
dealing with a lot of similar themes, but in a different way,”
he says. “There’s the moment when I brought out the tape recorder
[for Karen’s scenes] that I was going, ‘Oh, this is the same type
of recorder John Hurt used for Krapp’s Last Tape’. I was trying to
reinvent myself – but you never really can.”
Where the Truth Lies opens today.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CE MINISTERS’ COMMITTEE APPROVES PROGRAM OF ACTION AS PART OF ARMENIA-CE COOPERATION IN 2006-2007
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
March 16, 2006
YEREVAN, March 16. /ARKA/. The CE Ministers’ Committee has approved a
program of action as part of the Armenia-CE cooperation for 2006-2007,
the press and information department, RA Foreign Office, reported.
RA Permanent Ambassador to the CE, Ambassador Christian Ter-Stepanyan
reported that the program takes into account the program made by
Armenia in executing its commitments during its 5-year membership in
CE. He expressed satisfaction over the fact that the document considers
the prospects opened up after the adoption of constitutional reforms in
consolidating the human rights system, independence of the country’s
judicial power and activities of democratic institutions, through the
development of civil society, political parties and local democracy.
“The program becomes the most useful from the moment of the RA
Government’s approval of the schedule of legislative reforms, which
were necessitated by the referendum on constitutional reforms held
in 2005,” he said.
“We realize that this cooperation will help Armenia harmonize
its legislation with European standards and implement a policy of
reforms necessary for intensifying Armenia’s European integration,”
Ter-Stepanyan said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKISH HISTORIAN WANTS JOINT RESEARCH WITH ARMENIA INTO MASSACRES
Agence France Presse — English
March 16, 2006 Thursday 2:53 PM GMT
Istanbul
The leading Turkish historian who contests the definition of
controversial World War I massacres of Armenians as genocide, on
Thursday proposed to carry out joint research with an Armenian on
the issue.
“Let’s carry out a project together, dig up common graves if there
are some, to put an end to numerous demagogical arguments,” said Yusuf
Halacoglu, president of the Turkish History Society, to Ara Sarafian,
a British historian of Armenian origin.
Sarafian, a researcher at the Gomidas Institute in London, England,
told AFP that he was interested in accepting the offer.
“I will definitely consider this offer. I don’t want to show skepticism
about this proposal,” he said.
Some 70 Turkish and foreign academics are in Turkey until Friday for
a three-day conference to discuss whether controversial massacres of
Armenians during World War I amounted to genocide or not.
The Turkish gathering, in a rare move, offered the floor to academics
of all convictions, although it was largely dominated by historians
and officials who defend Turkey’s official position on the 1915-1917
killings.
Turkey categorically denies that Armenian subjects under its
predecessor, the Ottoman Empire, were victims of a genocide, but
acknowledges that at least 300,000 Armenians and as many Turks died
in civil strife during the last years of the empire.
Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their kin were slaughtered in
orchestrated killings.

ALIEV INTIMATES CHANCE OF GIVING AUTONOMY TO NAGORNO-KARABAKH
by Sevindzh Abdullayeva, Viktor Shulman
ITAR-TASS News Agency
March 16, 2006 Thursday 06:48 AM EST
Azerbaijan President Ilkham Aliev did not preclude a chance of granting
an autonomy status to Nagorno-Karabakh. The president expressed this
idea at the second world congress of Azerbaijanis in Baku on Thursday.
“Granting of an autonomy to Nagorno Karabakh is possible, and positive
experience in this sphere, existing in the world, can be applied with
respect to this area of Azerbaijan,” Aliev said. In this connection,
he called on Armenia for a constructive attitude to the negotiating
process.
The Azerbaijan leader emphasized that the negotiating process cannot
be endless. “Patience of the Azerbaijan authorities and people is
petering out,” Aliev said. He noted that Azerbaijan’s participation in
the negotiating process indicates its desire to settle the Karabakh
conflict peacefully. “While we feel that there is a chance for a
political settlement of the problem, we shall conduct negotiations.
“But if we see that the process turns into a simulation, we shall
quit it,” Aliev said. He also emphasized that Azerbaijan would sign a
peace agreement with Armenia only if the Karabakh conflict is settled
on the basis of norms of international law. “We shall never agree to
a loss of our territories,” Aliev stressed.
He noted that Azerbaijan would consolidate its military potential.
“I set the task that Azerbaijan’s military expenditures will be equal
over the next few years to the total budget of Armenia,” Aliev stated.

SPECIAL ELECTIONS OF COUNCILLOR MEMBERS TO BE HELD IN THREE COMMUNITIES OF SHIRAK
Noyan Tapan
Mar 16 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 16, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA Government stopped prematurely
commissions of councillor members of the Gusanagyugh, Ghazanchi and
Vardakar rural communities at the March 16 sitting. Making of the
decision is conditioned by the fact that within different terms, in
the consequence of stopping commission of a number of members of the
mentioned community councillors for objective reasons, the councillors’
implementation of their commissions became impossible. It was decided
to appoint and hold special elections of councillor in the mentioned
communities on the last Sunday of the 30-days term following the
day of the decisions coming into force. As Noyan Tapan was informed
by the RA Government’s Information and Public Relations Department,
the RA Minister of Finance and Economy was instructed to allocate to
the joint fund of the RA Central Electorla Commission from the 2006
reservation fund of the Government 129 thousand 125 drams (about 290
U.S. dollars), 126 thousand 565 drams and 126 thousand 610 drams for
preparing and holding special elections of councillors of the rural
communities of correspondingly Gusanagyugh, Ghazanchi and Vardakar. By
another decision, the Minister of Finance and Economy was instructed
to allocate from the Government’s 2006 reservation fund to the joint
fund of the Central Electoral Commission 125 thousand 830 drams for
financing expenses of preparing and holding the special elections of
the rural community head and councillor members of Lanjar, the marz
of Ararat, taken place on February 19, 2006.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

EU TO PROVIDE ARMENIA WITH 2 MLN EUROS TO REPAIR RAILWAYS
Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS Business and Financial Newswire
March 16, 2006 Thursday 6:06 PM MSK
The European Union will provide Armenia with 2 million euros under a
TRACECA program to repair the Yerevan-Tbilisi railway route, Gagik
Grigorian, the national TRACECA coordinator and head of foreign
relations at the Transport and Communications Ministry, told Interfax.
Armenian specialists estimate that about 200 million euros will be
used to prepare a feasibility study and 1.8 million euros to repair the
most damaged tracks. The timeframe for the project will be determined
after the feasibility study.

BAKU, YEREVAN WANT TO MOVE AHEAD ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH – U.S. DIPLOMAT
Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS Business and Financial Newswire
March 16, 2006 Thursday
Armenian President Robert Kocharian and Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev expressed their willingness to continue contributing to
efforts to reach a peace agreement on Nagorno-Karabakh during recent
negotiations in France, U.S.
Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried said at a news conference
in Yerevan on Thursday.
Fried disagreed that the talks between Kocharian and Aliyev in
Rambouillet on February 10-11 drove the negotiating process into a
dead end.
Attempts are currently being made to see in which direction the
settlement process could now move, he said.
During his visit to the region, Fried said he addressed ways of
settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, energy security and prospects
for the region’s development.
The U.S. believes it would be useful to look into the future in light
of the current problems in the South Caucasus to see how the region
is to develop on the whole and how democracy and economic reforms
will be proceed there.
The U.S. does not rule out that nuclear energy could be used to
diversify energy supplies in the region, he said.
The diplomat said he is aware of Armenia’s interest in building a new
safe and up-to-date nuclear power plant and that he would inform his
leadership in Washington about this.

AZERI MILITARY BUDGET TO EQUAL TOTAL ARMENIAN STATE BUDGET – ALIYEV
Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS Business and Financial Newswire
March 16, 2006 Thursday
Azerbaijan’s military budget will soon equal Armenia’s entire state
budget, said Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
“Our military budget is currently about $600 million. I have set
the goal that our military expenditure be increased to the size of
Armenia’s entire state budget in the near future,” Aliyev told the
second world congress of Azeris in Baku on Thursday.
“Armenia will never be able to compete with us. The sooner the Armenian
leadership understands this, the more beneficial it will be for them,”
he said.
Along with the development of its economy, Azerbaijan is also
strengthening its military development, Aliyev said. “Great
significance has been attached to this sphere over the past years
and Azerbaijan’s military budget has been increased every year. For
instance, the military budget was increased by 70% in 2005 compared
with 2004, and it has grown by 100% in 2006. Growth is also expected
in 2007,” the president said.

ARMENIAN POWER UTILITY BOOSTS REVENUE 27% IN 2005
Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS Business and Financial Newswire
March 16, 2006 Thursday
Electrical Network of Armenia (ENA)
boosted revenue tentatively 27% in 2005 to $165 million, Vladislav
Andreyev, the company’s financial director, told Interfax.
Andreyev said the figure reflected a stronger dram against the
dollar. He said revenue in the local currency only grew 9%.
ENA also had higher electricity consumption in a growing economy to
thank for the jump in revenue, he said.
Yevgeny Gladunchuk, ENA’s general director, told Interfax that
electricity sales rose 12% to 4.381 billion kilowatt-hours. He said
sales in Armenia itself rose 8% to 4.168 billion kWh. Households
consumed 45% of the electricity.
Andreyev, for his part, said the cost of buying electricity from
power stations soared 46% last year, and revenue from the sale of
this electricity grew just 26%, reflecting the company’s reduced
tariff margin compared with 2004.
ENA is Armenia’s electricity sales monopoly and is the country’s
biggest enterprise by revenue.

RIFT IN POLICE COULD HINDER THE PROBE
Story By Stephen Muiruri
Daily Nation, Kenya
March 16 2006
Divisions among the country’s top police chiefs are likely to hamper
investigations into the activities of two men who claim to be Armenians
and who are at the centre of mercenary claims.
The investigators are torn between police commissioner Mohammed
Hussein Ali and CID chief Joseph Kamau, who fell out after the raid
on the Standard Group offices on March 2.
Mr Isaiah Osugo, the Nairobi deputy provincial CID chief, is
spearheading the investigations into claims by Lang’ata MP Raila
Odinga that the two men, who claim to be brothers – Artur Margaryan
and Artur Sargsyan – are mercenaries.
Business opportunities
The investigators are also trying to verify claims by the brothers
that they are investors exploring business opportunities in Kenya.
Mr Osugo was appointed the chief investigator on March 8 by Maj-Gen
Ali after Mr Odinga visited him at his Vigilance House office to
complain about the presence of the two foreigners in Kenya.
After the meeting, Mr Odinga told reporters that he had informed
Maj-Gen Ali that Mr Kamau knew the house in Runda where the two
brothers were staying and was aware of the protection being offered
to them by GSU officers.
But Mr Kamau dismissed the claims as “utter rubbish” and questioned
the motive of the meeting between the Maj-Gen Ali and the Lang’ata MP.
Chain of command
Yesterday, police sources told the Nation that although Mr Osugo
is supposed to report to Mr Kamau through his immediate boss, Mr
Sammy Githui, that chain of command does not apply in the case of
the mercenaries investigations.
When appointing Mr Osugo, Maj-Gen Ali reportedly ordered him to report
any findings directly to him.
On the same day Mr Osugo was appointed to investigate the saga, Mr
Kamau issued a statement through CID spokesman Gideon Kibunjah and
said there were no mercenaries in Kenya.
“We therefore take this early opportunity to dispel those baseless,
wild and unsubstantiated claims. There are no mercenaries operating
in Kenya,” said the statement.
It asked politicians “to behave responsibly and exercise maturity in
their public utterances and avoid populist and alarming statements”.
Relations between Maj-Gen Ali and his CID chief have been frosty since
Mr Kamau kept him in the dark on the Standard raid, even though it
was his own officers who led the attack.
The attack was carried out by an elite squad directly answerable to
Mr Kamau.
Mr Odinga has insisted that the two foreigners were linked to the raid.
The rift between the two top policemen reached its climax on Monday
last week when Maj-Gen Ali attempted to sack Mr Kamau.
National Security minister John Michuki intervened by promptly
informing State House, which ordered him to ensure that did not happen.
Questions being raised are whether Mr Osugo could investigate his
CID boss and ask him to record a statement on the claims made against
him by Mr Odinga.
Mr Kamau has not been questioned. However, he has said he is willing
to record a statement if requested.
Key questions Mr Osugo is supposed to seek answers to include:
Do Narc activist Mary Wambui and her daughter Winnie have any dealings
with Mr Margaryan and Mr Sargsyan?
What does CID chief Kamau know about the foreigners and has he ever
visited their Runda house or offered them protection as alleged by
Mr Odinga?
What does State House know about the two men and have they ever
visited State House?
Are Mr Margaryan and Mr Sargsyan investors or in Kenya on a dangerous
mission?
Who in the Government allowed them to use cars with GK number plates,
and who offered them police protection?
Why do they drive around Nairobi with the number plates on their cars
covered in full view of traffic police?
Who facilitated their coming to Kenya and how long have they been here?
Did they participate in the Standard raid as claimed by Mr Odinga?
Who ordered the police, headed by Runda police station boss Jeremiah
Lang’at, to leave the Runda house and return to their base on Monday,
when they went to provide security to Mr Osugo’s team?
Are top government officials keen on the truth on the real identity
and the mission of the two foreigners coming out?