Next of Kin (1984 film)

1984 Canadian film

November 30, 1984 (1984-11-30) (United States)

Running time

72 minutesCountryCanadaLanguageEnglish

Next of Kin is a 1984 film directed by Atom Egoyan. It is Egoyan's first feature film and won two prizes at the International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg^[1] and was nominated for Best Achievement in Direction at the 8th Genie Awards.^[2]

Plot summary

Twenty-three-year-old Peter Foster is an only child who lives at home, where he constantly hears his parents arguing. Because Peter does nothing all day, the family goes to a clinic where a therapist videotapes them. After Peter watches his tape, he views the tape of a troubled Armenian family, who gave their only son away for adoption when they arrived in Canada. Peter decides to visit this family, and he pretends to be their son, Bedros Deryan. The Deryan family welcomes him with open arms, and Peter tries to patch up the poor relationship between George Deryan and his daughter Azah.

Cast

Patrick Tierney as Peter Foster/Bedros Deryan
Berge Fazlian as George Deryan
Sirvart Fazlian as Sonya Deryan
Arsinée Khanjian as Azah Deryan
Margaret Loveys as Mrs. Foster
Thomas Tierney as Mr. Foster
Andrew Coyne as Man on Elevator^[3]

DVD release

Next of Kin was first made commercially available via a DVD set along with Egoyan's second full-length film, Family Viewing. It was also released in the U.K. in BD and DVD by Curzon Artificial Eye.

References

^ "IFFMH Chronicle 1984". iffmh.de. International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
^ "Next of Kin". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
^ [1] ^{[dead link]}