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ENTERTAINMENT

Atom Egoyan Sets Off ‘Guest of Honour’ With Playtime, Elevation, Ego Film, Film Farm

By Elsa Keslassy

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Atom Egoyan, the Oscar-nominated Canadian director, is set to direct “Guest of Honour,” a twisted psychological drama which will be produced by Playtime, Elevation Pictures, Ego Film Arts and The Film Farm.

Based on an original script by Egoyan, “Guest of Honour” explores the relationship between a father and his 20-something year old daughter who wants to remain in jail for a sexual assault she knows she’s been wrongfully indicted for. Father and daughter find themselves acting out of the bounds of good behavior as the past haunts them.

“I’m particularly excited and passionate about this script,” said Egoyan, adding that he was thrilled to be working with partners Playtime and Elevation Pictures, who have clarity and understand my vision for the film and are very well positioned to help me share this film with audiences around the world.”

The movie marks Egoyan’s follow up to “Remember,” a revenge thriller with Christopher Plummer which played at Venice and Toronto, among other festivals. Besides “The Sweet Hereafter,” nominated for two Oscars and winner of Cannes’s Grand Jury Prize in 1997, Egoyan is best known for directing “Exotica,””Adoration,””The Captive” as well as “Chloe.”

“We have always been big fans of Atom’s work, he is one of the great voices of contemporary cinema,” said Nicolas Brigaud-Robert, co-founder of Playtime (“Son of Saul,”BPM”).

“‘Guest of Honour’ is the type of script you think about long after turning that last page. We know that this is a movie that will resonate with movie goers around the world,” added the executive, who announced earlier this week that Playtime had teamed with Animal Kingdom on the U.S. remake of Austrian psychological thriller “Goodnight Mommy.”

“Guest of Honour” is produced by Egoyan, Simone Urdl and Jennifer Weiss. Brigaud-Robert, Sebastien Beffa and Noah Segal will executive produce. The film marks the fourth collaboration between Ego Film Arts and The Film Farm which are both producing with the participation of Telefilm Canada.

Playtime will handle international sales, outside of Canada where Elevation Pictures will be distributing.

“Guest of Honour” will start shooting in November in Southern Ontario.

Playtime is attending Toronto with Olivier Assayas’s “Non-Fiction” and László Nemes’ “Sunset,” both of which are playing in the Special Presentations section, as well as Markus Schleinzer’s “Angelo” in the competitive Platform section and Rithy Panh’s “Graves Without a Name” at TIFF Docs.

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