Critical recognition for Atom Egoyan’s earliest films exceeded by far their acceptance among a broader movie-going public. These edgy, determined works that explored dysfunctional families and the alienating impact of the electronic media—made in Canada by an Egyptian-born filmmaker of Armenian ancestry—found support among festival audiences and juries and elicited high praise from reviewers and fellow filmmakers. In a memorable gesture at the Montreal Festival of New Cinema, the esteemed German director Wim Wenders even handed over his own festival prize to his younger, relatively unknown colleague. Several years later Egoyan would find public acknowledgment for his vision with the success of Exotica and an Oscar nomination for The Sweet Hereafter, his wrenching adaptation of the novel by Russell Banks. On the heels of the release of his latest film, Felicia’s Journey, Egoyan joins us for two of the three evenings of screenings of his films at the Archive to discuss the early works of his twenty-year career.