Deepa Mehta's Funny Boy is Canada’s international film Oscar entry

Deepa Mehta’s Funny Boy has been chosen as Canada’s official entry for the 93rd Academy Awards in the Best International Feature Film category. Featuring Brandon Ingram, Nimmi Harasgama, Ali Kazmi, Agam Darshi and Arush Nand, the film is based on Shyam Selvadurai’s best-selling novel of the same name.

THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

The official Twitter handle of Telefilm Canada shared that Deepa Mehta’s Funny Boy will represent Canada in the best International Feature Film race at the Oscars next year. They shared the audio of Deepa Mehta’s reaction when its Executive Director Christa Dickenson broke the news to her. An ecstatic Deepa said in the audio, “That says so much about our country. It really does. It says so much about inclusion. I’m so happy.”

The tweet reads, “And the film representing Canada for Best International Feature Film at the #Oscars2021 is FunnyBoyTheFilm! Congrats! Hear director Deepa Mehta's reaction when our Executive Director Christa D called to break the news! Spoiler: this might make you smile. A lot. (sic)”

And the film representing Canada for Best International Feature Film at the #Oscars2021 is @FunnyBoyTheFilm! Congrats!

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 — Telefilm Canada (@Telefilm_Canada) October 29, 2020

ABOUT FUNNY BOY

The film follows a young boy and his sexual awakening during the turbulent times of Tamil-Sinhalese conflict in the 1970s and 1980s. Deepa Mehta shared her thoughts about the film and said, “It is Brecht who said ‘Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it.’ We live in a world with borders, with divisions and differences. But now more than ever, we need each other, we need love and compassion and togetherness. Funny Boy to me is about humanity and hope. It’s about holding up a flag of inclusion, in a world tethering towards an abyss of the great divide. David Hamilton and myself thank the jurors across Canada who saw fit to support our film Funny Boy.”

This is Deepa Mehta’s second film to receive an Oscar nomination in the international feature film category. Her third film in the Elements trilogy, Water, was nominated in 2007.

The 93rd Academy Awards will commence on April 25, 2021. The final list of all the Oscar nominations will be announced on March 15.

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