CANNES — Atom Egoyan’s Adoration, the second Canadian film to screen in official competition at Cannes, drew sustained applause at its 11:30 a.m. press screening on Thursday. The 2,300-seat Grand Théâtre Lumiere was packed.

It was an all-Canadian affair at the ensuing press conference that afternoon, with the director joined by cast members Scott Speedman, Rachel Blanchard and Devon Bostick along with Egoyan’s fellow producers Simone Urdl and Jennifer Weiss of Toronto-based The Film Farm. Indeed, it was a very Toronto moment.

Weiss was an intern at the Toronto film festival when it was called the Festival of Festivals; Urdl was Egoyan’s assistant for many years at Ego Film Arts; Blanchard, who also appeared in Egoyan’s previous film, Where the Truth Lies, was born in Toronto; and Speedman grew up in the city. Rosedale resident Egoyan was able to walk home from some of the shoots. Bostick also hails from Toronto.

Of a piece with Egoyan’s oeuvre, Adoration explores the concepts of personal history and personal mythology, and the role of media in blurring the two. Bostick plays Simon, a teenager haunted by the death of his parents (Blanchard and Noam Jenkins) when he was a child. Simon’s memory of the couple is clouded by a troubled family history. Unable to learn the story behind the story, he concocts his own alternate version of his past by borrowing from the narrative of a high school assignment concerning terrorism.

He imagines his father was a terrorist who duped his pregnant wife into carrying a bomb onto a plane, a scheme whose derailment by airport security allowed him to be born. Simon takes his story live to the Internet where it is quickly accepted as the truth. Egoyan’s wife and muse Arsinée Khanjian plays the teacher who encourages Simon in his ‘theater.’ Speedman (Underworld, Weirdsville) plays Simon’s uncle, who has raised him.

Speaking at the press conference, Egoyan said the character of the uncle was originally envisioned as an older man. But Speedman, he said, ‘came to Toronto on his own volition’ and eventually convinced the director to change the part for the actor — although there were threats, Egoyan joked.

Asked about working with the director, Speedman said Egoyan subverted his expectation. ‘I expected him to stay behind the camera, not to be too communicative…a guy in a black suit, an auteur.’ With a measure of chagrin, Speedman said he has a ‘problem’ watching the films he has appeared in, but was ‘blown away’ by Adoration. ‘I’ve been in a lot of movies. I feel like I’ve worked on a really great one.’