Film based on Selvadurai’s Funny Boy Canada’s Oscar entry

Deepa Mehta’s film based on Sri Lankan born Canadian author Shyam Selvadurai’s novel, Funny Boy, has been selected as Canada’s Oscar entry for best international film, according to foreign media reports.

 A report published by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation said Mehta’s film Funny Boy will represent Canada at the 93rd Academy Awards as the submission for the best international film.

Mehta, whose previous film Water competed for best foreign language film — under the category’s previous name — in 2007, said she could barely believe it when she heard about the nomination. 

At the same time, the film being selected and supported by Telefilm made her proud to be a Canadian. 

“It’s about Sri Lankans. It’s about the civil war. It’s about gays coming of age,” Mehta said of Funny Boy.

“We are Canadians, and what does it mean to be a Canadian? A Canadian means to be whatever you are. And that’s the biggest gift that Canada has given me.”

Funny Boy, which is based on the novel of the same name by Shyam Selvadurai, follows the story of a boy named Arjie, who is growing up gay in Sri Lanka during the Tamil-Sinhalese conflict of the 1970s and 1980s. It was filmed on location in Sri Lanka; Mehta co-wrote the script with Selvadurai.

Mehta said that producing the film during a pandemic was a particular challenge, requiring them to “cut corners” at times. 

“I feel we’ve been challenged, and we need it.” Mehta said at a Thursday press conference. “It’s the indomitable spirit of what makes us live.”

The film, which is mostly in Tamil with some English, was acquired by Ava DuVernay’s distribution company Array earlier this month. It is scheduled for wide release on CBC TV and CBC Gem on Dec. 4., and will also receive a theatrical release in Canada before moving to Netflix in the U.S., U.K., New Zealand and Australia on Dec. 10.

Last year, Canada’s submission for best international feature film went to Antigone, directed by Montreal’s Sophie Deraspe.

The 93rd Academy Awards are currently set to take place on April 25, 2021. While they were initially set to take place on Feb. 28, they were moved back due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The eligibility period was also pushed back by two months — extending the cutoff from Dec.31, 2020 to Feb 28, 2021. The full list of Oscar nominations will be announced on March 15.

First published by McClelland and Stewart in September 1994, the novel won the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction and the Books in Canada First Novel Award.