CANNES -- Despite the political firestorm generated around Atom Egoyan's new film Ararat, the Toronto filmmaker says he is not trying to make a definitive historical statement about the Armenian holocaust.

"It's not an historic movie," Egoyan says as he prepares to present Ararat at its out-of-competition world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday.

"I know there is this perception going around people's minds," Egoyan tells The Sun, but that perception is off-base, he says.

Ararat is the story of what happens when a young Armenian-Canadian who works as an on-set driver witnesses the making of a film chronicling the 1915 Armenian genocide at the hands of the Turks. This film within-the-film is being made in Toronto in the story.

"This film is so stridently Canadian -- I have to emphasize that," Egoyan says. "It is set in Toronto right now and it's about living with the ghosts of history.

"I think it's a timely movie from that point of view, in terms of asking: How much of other people's histories can a society tolerate, and should tolerate? At what point can you take something as a given? At what point can you just let something rest? It's ambitious from that point of view and very Canadian."

Ararat stars Charles Aznavour, Bruce Greenwood, Marie-Josee Croze, Christopher Plummer, Elias Koteas, Brent Carver, David Alpay and Arsinee Khanjian, some of whom will be on hand when the film debuts at Cannes.

Turkish government officials have already raised objections because historical facts about the Armenian holocaust are still in dispute. Armenians claim up to 1.5 million people were murdered by the Turks; the Turks admit that hundreds of thousands died but maintain it was part of the ebb and flow of World War I and not an act of genocide.

As a film story, Ararat explores the subject of being judgmental, Egoyan says. That is one of the reasons he did not want Ararat in competition, where it would be judged.

"I guess I should have expected more," Egoyan says of his surprise at how intense the political pressures on the film have become, "but there has been an acceleration of judgment. I didn't want to exaggerate that by exposing it to the whole other political agenda of the jury.

"Having been through that (as a one-time jury member), I know what the other pressures are. I felt that that wouldn't serve this particular film."

So a special gala competition-slot screening without worrying about a prize is perfect, he says.

http://www.canoe.com/Cannes02/may17_atom-sun.html