had taken it upon himself to shoot extra footage in Turkey. In fact, the film is premiering that night. Inspired by his own son, David chooses to believe Raffi is innocent, and releases him. The film reels remain with him, however, which David discovers to contain heroin. Cast Themes Issues explored in the film include truth and art. Using a story within a story device, the film explores whether films should recreate war crimes, and whether films can alter facts to communicate more important truths. Another theme of the film is gaps between generations, as it explores how later generations understand the historical record rather than the Armenian genocide itself. Numerous Armenian Canadian characters in the film identify symbols with their heritage, such as pictures of Mount Ararat. The fictionalized Arshile Gorky's symbols are a button and a photo of his mother. Gorky is depicted in the film as a link between the history and current life of the Armenian people. Production Development Director Atom Egoyan and his wife, actress Arsinée Khanjian, are Armenian Canadians, and some of Egoyan's ancestors had been lost in the genocide. Egoyan had attempted to explain the genocide to their son, Arshile, when he was around six. Arshile asked, "Did the Turks say sorry?" The film Ararat is intended as a response to that question. Producer Robert Lantos had promised that he would support a film about the genocide if Egoyan ever felt prepared to make one. Alliance Atlantis provided Egoyan a budget of $12 million. Filming For cinematography, Egoyan worked with his frequent collaborator Paul Sarossy, with shooting taking place over 45 days during summer 2001. The battle scenes depicting the Defense of Van were shot in Drumheller, Alberta, with some of the soldiers actually being computer generated. The Van villages were also computer generated. Other scenes were shot at Cherry Beach in Toronto. The film could not be shot in Turkey or at the real Mount Ararat because of Turkey's denial of the genocide. The film was made prior to the Parliament of Canada voting to recognize the Armenian genocide in 2004. Egoyan said it was more important that the Turkish government accept the truth. Release MGM considered distributing Ararat but Alex Yemenidjian, the chief executive, stated that financially it would not be rational for it to distribute the film; therefore Miramax distributed it instead. The film was screened out of competition at