By Rupen Janbazian
Arshile Egoyan may carry a last name synonymous with cinematic artistry, but his work, ‘Before They Joined Us,’ marks a powerful, singular voice in the Armenian and Canadian film communities.
Rooted in deeply personal narratives, his latest short film draws on his mother’s childhood experience, weaving a poignant story of displacement, cultural dissonance, and the search for identity. This theme resonates widely, particularly among Armenian diaspora communities like Toronto’s.
Egoyan, now based in Los Angeles as he completes his MFA in screenwriting, speaks candidly about drawing from family history, navigating complex identities, and the emotional weight behind storytelling in his unique directorial approach.
In this conversation, he shares the journey of bringing such intimate material to life, his close collaboration with Toronto’s Armenian community, and the enduring influence of his legendary parents, Atom Egoyan and Arsinée Khanjian, on his evolving craft.
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Rupen Janbazian: ‘Before They Joined Us’ is deeply personal, drawing on your mother’s childhood experience. How did your family, especially your mother, react when you decided to adapt such an intimate part of their history into a short film?
Arshile Egoyan: My mother holds strong opinions on many things and has never been one to shy away from sharing them. And yet, when it comes to recounting personal anecdotes from her past, I’ve never known her to be someone who relishes divulging. I arrived at the material in ‘Before They Joined Us’ via family friends who were surprised that I wasn’t familiar with this particular chapter of my family’s history. They instructed me to excavate. When I asked my mother to fill in the blanks, she told me this almost unbelievable story as though it were just a given collection of facts.
It had to be a film. Being a storyteller herself, she understood my creative draw to it. She was happy to spend the time and energy necessary to give me what I needed to distill it into something an audience could interact with.
Janbazian: Your film addresses themes of exile and identity, primarily through the dissonance between safety and belief systems. How did you approach portraying this tension, particularly through the lens of the two young girls?
Egoyan: Upon leaving Lebanon, Taline and Garine leave behind a cultural landscape and familial structure that has nurtured them up to that point. The emotional and psychological safety contained within that structure is deprioritized by parents who understand that the girls’ physical well-being is under threat. The cost of escaping one type of violence, however, is to accept the violence inherent in tearing children away from all that is familiar to them. Ironically, the existential terror they face in Montreal—having to reckon with Armageddon, a supposedly impending event according to the aunts who receive them—stems from a belief system designed to offer direction and purpose to its adherents. All stories are fundamentally about change; in this one, the emphasis is on exchange. The girls exchange one cultural context for another, one family experience for another, and one belief system for another. There are always associated costs and benefits to exchanges. To be safe physically and emotionally, the girls are forced to reimagine their realities.
Janbazian: You’ve cast some Armenians from Toronto, including Lorie Berberian, a Torontohye contributor. How did the casting process unfold within the Armenian community here in Toronto, and how important was it for you to involve local talent in the film?
Egoyan: Being an almost entirely Armenian-language film, we knew from the script stage that the project was dependent on investment from the Toronto Armenian community. Even so, I was deeply moved to feel how motivated the community was to help make the film a reality. I’m grateful to you for coordinating efforts to disseminate the casting call for the film and broadcast it via Torontohye. The Armenian Community Centre agreed to let us host auditions on their premises, and the Keshishian family—an important local family of artists and creatives—was instrumental in running the casting sessions. Not only did Setta Keshishian and her daughter Araxie Keshishian Arabian devote precious weekends to running lines with the auditioning parties, but their intimate knowledge of the acting landscape within the community gave me access to incredible talent, including Setta and her son Vic, who are both in the film.
Lorie and Ava [Andreakos] were blessings. It was clear from their auditions that they were right for their respective roles, and the dynamics between them both on screen and off pointed to an incredible chemistry that makes the film what it is. I am incredibly grateful to everyone who took time out of their busy lives to audition. I hope that the experience was a worthwhile one for each and all of them.
Janbazian: The film reflects a pivotal moment in Armenian-Lebanese history but also explores the uncertainty of leaving behind one set of challenges only to face another. How will the Armenian diaspora, particularly those in Toronto, connect with this story?
Egoyan: The realities associated with immigration are unimaginably complex and always difficult. While each family or person’s story is unique, some throughlines make the experience relatable. I hope that the film will be a touchpoint for people who have experienced immigration first-hand—something they can see themselves in and be in conversation with.
With the recent influx of Armenians from around the world to Toronto and elsewhere, I hope that the film can also be a reminder that we as a people have done this before, at different times, in different places, in different ways. We are as alive as an international diaspora as a nation, ready and willing to help each other land into new realities if necessary.
Janbazian: The use of light and close-up cinematography in ‘Before They Joined Us’ really enhances the atmosphere of unease. Could you tell me more about how you worked with your team to visually capture the emotional complexity of the story, particularly in the confined space of the car?
Egoyan: Large portions of the film take place in cars. The obvious reason is that cars bring us from one geography to another, which is what the film is fundamentally about, but the way cars are designed gave me the opportunity to explore more subtle themes as well. The father is at the wheel, the mother is beside him, and in the back are the two girls. For much of the film, the parents’ faces are inaccessible to us—we’re either looking at the girls or looking alongside them at the back of their parents’ heads. The children are at the mercy of their parents’ decisions, without access to the thinking or context that guides a decision that will wildly alter the course of their lives. Despite this cognitive and emotional distance between them and their parents, they are together in the backseat. Ultimately, the entire family is stuck in the confines of the vehicle. Even when options seem extremely limited, there are still choices to make. The close-ups were deployed to evoke this feeling of constrainedness. Colin Cameron, our Director of Photography, did a phenomenal job designing strikingly beautiful shots while serving these thematic intentions.
Janbazian: You probably get this all the time, but as the son of Atom Egoyan and Arsinée Khanjian—both iconic figures in the Canadian and international film worlds and the Toronto Armenian community—how has their influence shaped your approach to filmmaking? You’re carving your own path, but were there any key lessons or pieces of advice they shared with you, especially during the creation of ‘Before They Joined Us’?
Egoyan: The generic answer I find myself defaulting to in response to this question is that I learned mostly by osmosis. Having spent time on my father’s sets, being present around conversations about film, culture, and art, and sitting with my parents on the couch as a child watching films I couldn’t possibly understand, all of it inevitably shaped my relationship with myself, my environment, and my creative approaches. In the end, the most important things I’ve learned have come from both of their examples and are values more than techniques related to film—treat people well, pay attention, and engage constructively with your environment.
Janbazian: Can you speak to how growing up in Toronto influenced your identity as both an Armenian and a filmmaker?
Egoyan: I’m extremely grateful that I got to grow up in such a vibrant, culturally diverse city alongside people from all over the world. Canada is a country that has made me feel allowed and encouraged to retain other aspects of my cultural identity. In saying this, we need to acknowledge that historically, this has not been the case for all Canadians at all times and that the history of Canada includes a history of cultural erasure as it applies to the Indigenous peoples who were here before there was a Canada to speak of. A responsibility towards that history should serve as both a terrible reminder of the horrors of silencing and violence (as Armenians, this empathy shouldn’t be too hard to find) and as a signpost that, as Canadians, our greatest cultural strength is that we have the opportunity to be in conversation with other cultures.
There are principles that we must agree on and respect to maintain social cohesion, and different points of view strengthen those principles. As a diaspora, the struggle is balancing the importance of being porous so that we can adapt, thrive, and contribute with the importance of holding onto the cultural traditions and values that continue to serve us and give us definition.
Janbazian: After the success of this short film, what are your plans for the future? Do you see yourself continuing to tell stories rooted in your Armenian heritage, or are you exploring other directions in your upcoming projects?
Egoyan: While my Armenian heritage isn’t front and centre in any of my current projects, it’s something that I continue to be in conversation with.
Currently, my focus is on completing my MFA in screenwriting at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. The plan is to keep learning, doing, and refining so that I can contribute creatively in as meaningful a way as possible. ֎
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This conversation was published in our Jan. 2025 issue.
Photo: Gareth Cattermole/IMDB
Torontohye/Թորոնթոհայ
