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World-renowned Armenian-Canadian director Atom Egoyan wants to make a film in Turkey, a joint project with Turkish directors “would be a good step toward dialogue,” Egoyan told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review during a recent interview in Yerevan, where he was in the sidelines of Golden Apricot film festival, and was celebrating his 50th birthday along with his wife, Armenian-Canadian actress Arsinée Khanjian.

Inviting Turks and Armenians to engage in dialogue, Egoyan said, “We need to speak about the events of 1915. Because we have failed to speak, the West has not hesitated to [exploit] our wounds out of political interest.”

Though known the world over for his critically acclaimed independent films, Atom Egoyan is most synonymous in Turkey with his 2002 film “Ararat,” which examined the events of 1915, attracting great anger from Turkish nationalist circles. Now, however, the Canadian-Armenian director says he could shoot a film in Turkey, the paper says.

A joint project with Turkish directors “would be a good step toward dialogue,” Egoyan said.

A fan of Turkish Nobel laureate author Orhan Pamuk, and especially his novel “Snow,” Egoyan said it would “be a pleasure” to adapt the writer’s work to the silver screen.

Speaking about the current situation between Turkish and Armenian people, Egoyan said he deeply believed that the iron curtain between both peoples would be torn down as past incidents became topics of discussion.

In contrast to the commonly held view in the diaspora, Egoyan said he believed opening the closed border gate between Turkey and Armenia was a significant step toward a peaceful future.

“Lifting borders will increase peace and welfare in the region,” the director said. “It will provide an environment for dialogue.”

Egoyan said he was proud to have Armenian roots and his family came from Arapgir, a district in the eastern Turkish province of
Malatya. “My biggest wish is to visit this land of my roots at least once,” the director said.