And the film representing Canada for Best International Feature Film at the #Oscars2021 is …@FunnyBoyTheFilm! Congrats!
— Telefilm Canada (@Telefilm_Canada) October 29, 2020
Hear director @IamDeepaMehta's reaction when our Executive Director @Christa_D_ called to break the news!
⚠️Spoiler: this might make you smile. A lot. pic.twitter.com/KWn36muJou
The field for the Best International Feature Film is wide open with few obvious favourites. This would be a year for Canada to break through.
Telefilm Canada went the route of picking Funny Boy, the latest Deepa Mehta film. The story is set in the 1970 and 1980s in Sri Lanka, encompassing the awakening of sexual identity with political tensions between the minority Tamils and the majority Sinhalese.
Funny Boy is based on the novel of the same name by Sri Lankan-Canadian Shyam Selvadurai. Mehta and Selvadurai co-wrote the screenplay.
Canada previously submitted Mehta's film Water in 2006 for the 79th Acadeny Awards in 2007 in what was then the Best Foreign Language Film category. Water lost out to The Lives of Others (Germany) from Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.
Ava DuVernay's ARRAY Releasing acquired the rights to the film and made the deal with Netflix outside Canada to carry the film starting on December 10. Funny Boy will air on CBC on December 4 at 8 pm local time. The film will be available to Canadians on CBC Gem after the broadcast.
This will keep my streak alive of seeing Canada's entry to the Academy Awards. The last one I have not seen is Un crabe dans la tête (2002).
Top 10 Canadian films I still want to see
Canadian film notebook: Making Canada look like Afghanistan
We had noted that the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival would not run Canada's entry for the Best International Feature Film. The typical deadline is the end of September but was extended thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is also why the announcement was later this year.
TIFF 2020 did carry La nuit des Rois by Philippe Lacôte, a Canada co-production that is the nominee from Côte d'Ivoire.
Nadia, Butterfly from Pascal Plante was the lone full-length Canadian film to make the 2020 Cannes list. We never know which film came in second or third; this film likely received serious consideration by Canada.
That Shelf compiled a number of possibilities, including Nadia, Butterfly and Xavier Dolan's latest Matthias et Maxime. 11 films were submitted, according to Christa Dickenson, executive director of Telefilm Canada.
This is the first Canadian film in this category from someone not named Sophie D. in 3 years. Sophie Deraspe wrote and directed Antigone while Sophie Dupuis wrote and directed Chien de Garde.
The necessity of Canadian films that don't seem Canadian
'Visibly Canadian' is a reasonable goal for Canadian film
Canadian films should tell more stories about Canada
Telefilm Canada shouldn't limit funding by language but reward films shot in Canada with Canadians
"Funny Boy is a South Asian film. It's written by a South Asian, directed by one and all its actors are South Asian. It's about 'US.'"
"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."
Both are Deepa Mehta quotes: the first to Deadline and the second to CBC.
The film struggled to get approval to film in Sri Lanka. This film would have had problems being submitted by Sri Lanka, since homosexuality is illegal. This is a film submitted by Canada for the Academy Awards that isn't filmed in Canada and mostly non-Canadian actors. Agam Darshi and Ali Kazmi are Canadians in the cast.
The last 4 Canadian films submitted to reach the Top 5 Oscars cut were Water, Monsieur Lazhar, Incendies, and Rebelle. Only Monsieur Lazhar was set and filmed in Canada with Incendies set and filmed mostly overseas.
This may be the way back for Canada to make the shortlist and the top 5 cut. Would be nice to have a film set in Canada that would pull this off.
Lionheart from Nigeria suggests Academy Awards reconsider language for best international feature film
Funny Boy is reportedly mostly in Tamil with some English. The Academy Awards category allows for some English as long as the majority of dialogue is in another language. Felix and Meira had several languages, including French, Yiddish, English, Spanish, and Italian.
Mehta told the Straight, "I’m proud of the fact that 50 percent of this film is not in English." If that is literal, Canada's entry might be denied by the Academy. Likely, Mehta meant at least 50 percent.
Antigone doesn't make Oscars shortlist for best international feature film
Antigone is Canada's entry to the Oscars for Best International Feature Film
Canadian film review: Antigone
Xavier Dolan film makes top 9 Oscars cut
Canada has only had a single film make the shortlist in the previous 7 Oscars seasons: Xavier Dolan's Juste la fin du monde, which was 2 films ago for the French-Canadian director. That film didn't make the Top 5 cut.
Arcand and Dolan have accounted for 7 Canadian entries in the Oscars category. The winning streak of top 5 nominees for Canada from 2013-2015 feels like a distant memory.
CanadianCrossing.com film reviews
CanadianCrossing.com film coverage
As we remind ourselves every year, Les Invasions barbares | The Barbarian Invasions (2003) from Denys Arcand is the only Canadian Oscars winner in this category.
The shortlist of 10 films will be known on February 9. The list of 10 gets narrowed to 5 official nominees on March 15. The 93rd Academy Awards is scheduled for April 25.
Twitter capture: @Telefilm_Canada
photo credit: Funny Boy film
Comments