Yesterday, Deepa Mehta’s FUNNY BOY was announced by Canada as the country’s official selection for @TheAcademy Awards. Today, we share the first trailer for this moving film, which @ARRAYNow will release on @netflix in December. Watch, smile and share. Let’s spread some love. pic.twitter.com/3Ck9uZjIkm
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) October 30, 2020
The Funny Boy world debut on CBC is tomorrow night at 8 pm local time (8:30 pm in most of Newfoundland). The Netflix debut outside Canada is in 7 days. This is the biggest debut ever for a Canadian entry into the Academy Awards for the Best International Feature Film category.
The Canadian entry could have a less-dominant Oscars field and a grand debut will help the cause. The Deepa Mehta film has been gained attention but not what the filmmakers would have wanted.
While we said there isn't enough Canadian representation in the Canadian entry for the Best International Feature Film, we now hear of complaints from the Tamil community of not having enough Tamil representation in the Canadian film.
Mehta also said that half of the cast was Tamil though not so much in the leading roles. The filmmakers had to re-record the Tamil language for the actors. Mehta desribed the Tamil language effort as "really dodgy."
Mehta noted that one of 2 Tamil actors she wanted in the film, who weren't able to do the film, was Ontario-based. Given that Toronto has the largest concentration of Tamils outside southern Asia, the film could have satisfied calls for more Tamil and Canadian representation.
A bit of controversy isn't necessarily a bad thing. Publicity is publicity. Even if the Tamil language concerns are addressed in the final product airing on CBC and Netflix, the film will have attention for its subject matter in certain parts of the world.
Some of the film is English but the other languages will have subtitles. Every Canadian entry in this Oscars category has subtitles for English-language viewers.
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Canadian films should tell more stories about Canada
Telefilm Canada shouldn't limit funding by language but reward films shot in Canada with Canadians
In a normal year, we would have a better idea about the competition for Funny Boy. Another Round (Denmark) is likely to get strong consideration. We have personally seen the entries Apples (Greece) and Gaza mon amour (Palestine). Enjoyed both films but hard to know what else is out there. Once your humble narrator sees Funny Boy, we should have a good comparison point.
CanadianCrossing.com film coverage
Funny Boy will be available for viewing for about 2 months before the Best International Feature Film shortlist is announced on February 9. We will have a review once we see the film for ourselves.
The shortlist of 10 films gets narrowed to 5 official nominees on March 15. The 93rd Academy Awards is scheduled for April 25.
Twitter capture: @ava
photo credit: Funny Boy film
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