One of the first conversations cinematographer Douglas Koch had with director Deepa Mehta was about his using a handheld camera in shooting “Funny Boy,” a coming-of-age story set during the civil war in Sri Lanka.
The plan was to allow complete flexibility as Koch worked with two actors — Arush Nand and Brandon Ingram — playing the role of Arjie from boyhood to adolescence as he discovers his sexual identity. As war rages between the Tamil and the Sinhalese, Arjie is further at risk in a nation where homosexuality is punishable by law. Koch made sure the camera was always motivated by the space the actors were in, and that the performers dictated how the camera moved, not the other way around.
The film was originally targeted as Canada’s foreign-language Oscar entry but was disqualified for containing too much English. Netflix resubmitted the film, which bowed in early December, in the best picture and general categories.
The plan was to allow complete flexibility as Koch worked with two actors — Arush Nand and Brandon Ingram — playing the role of Arjie from boyhood to adolescence as he discovers his sexual identity. As war rages between the Tamil and the Sinhalese, Arjie is further at risk in a nation where homosexuality is punishable by law. Koch made sure the camera was always motivated by the space the actors were in, and that the performers dictated how the camera moved, not the other way around.
The film was originally targeted as Canada’s foreign-language Oscar entry but was disqualified for containing too much English. Netflix resubmitted the film, which bowed in early December, in the best picture and general categories.
- 1/14/2021
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
There is nothing funny about growing up gay in a conservative country. Trust me. Everything seems to be conspiring against you. Not only must you deal with the changes your body undergoes during puberty and start wondering why you have no interest in the naked ladies in the magazines your classmates pass around during recess, you also hear many pejoratives thrown around carelessly, even by people you love, as they announce what they believe you will become. In addition to this, conservatism usually means your humanity is in peril, as you become the embodiment of everything they’re trying to eradicate.
This sense of looming danger is lacking in Deepa Mehta’s Funny Boy, a coming-of-age story about a Sri Lankan Tamil gay boy, seen through butterfly wings. Although the film follows Arjie from his childhood (where he is played by Arush Nand) to his adolescence (Brandon Ingram plays the...
This sense of looming danger is lacking in Deepa Mehta’s Funny Boy, a coming-of-age story about a Sri Lankan Tamil gay boy, seen through butterfly wings. Although the film follows Arjie from his childhood (where he is played by Arush Nand) to his adolescence (Brandon Ingram plays the...
- 12/21/2020
- by Jose Solís
- The Film Stage
"Every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other..." Array has debuted the first official trailer for Funny Boy, the latest film from acclaimed Indo-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta. This is premiering directly on Netflix in December, and has been chosen by Canada as their entry into the Best International Film category at the Academy Awards for 2020. Shot on location and set in Sri Lanka in the 1970s and 80s, the film explores Arjie's sexual awakening from a young boy to a teenager who falls in love with a male classmate at his school, just as political tensions escalate between the Sinhalese and Tamils in the years leading up to the 1983 uprisings. The indie film stars Arush Nand, Brandon Ingram, Nimmi Harasgama, Ali Kazmi, Agam Darshi, Seema Biswas, & Shivantha Wijesinha. It looks wonderful, and also heartbreaking, but still a ...
- 11/1/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Acquired by Ava DuVernay’s Array Releasing earlier this month, Deepa Mehta’s “Funny Boy,” an adaptation of Shyam Selvadurai’s 1994 novel of the same name, has been announced as Canada’s official selection for Best International Feature Film for the 2021 Academy Awards. Set for release on Netflix beginning Thursday, December 10, Array has premiered a first-look trailer for the film.
Shot on location in Colombo, Sri Lanka, “Funny Boy” centers on the “awakening of sexual identity by a young boy named Arjie. As political tensions escalate to a boiling point between the minority Tamils and the majority Sinhalese, a young boy comes of age in a society and family that doesn’t embrace difference outside of societal norms. The film chronicles Arjie’s struggle to find balance and self-love despite the absence of empathy and understanding.”
It’s a coming-of-age story about growing up in Sri Lanka during one of...
Shot on location in Colombo, Sri Lanka, “Funny Boy” centers on the “awakening of sexual identity by a young boy named Arjie. As political tensions escalate to a boiling point between the minority Tamils and the majority Sinhalese, a young boy comes of age in a society and family that doesn’t embrace difference outside of societal norms. The film chronicles Arjie’s struggle to find balance and self-love despite the absence of empathy and understanding.”
It’s a coming-of-age story about growing up in Sri Lanka during one of...
- 10/30/2020
- by Tambay Obenson
- Indiewire
Deepa Mehta’s “Funny Boy” is heading to the CBC.
The Canadian public broadcaster, whose film division CBC Films funded the feature with Telefilm Canada, has lined up a Dec. 4 premiere. Based on the eponymous, best-selling novel by Shyam Selvadurai, the film follows a young boy’s sexual awakening in Sri Lanka during the turbulent Tamil-Sinhalese conflict leading up to the civil war. Ava DuVernay’s Array Releasing picked up the film for distribution earlier this month.
“Funny Boy” will air on CBC on Dec. 4 at 8 p.m. and will be available to stream on the broadcaster’s VOD service CBC Gem. It will also receive a theatrical release in Canada, as well as select cities throughout the U.S. in December. As revealed exclusively by Variety, the film will premiere on Netflix in the U.S., U.K., New Zealand and Australia on Dec. 10.
Shot on location in Colombo,...
The Canadian public broadcaster, whose film division CBC Films funded the feature with Telefilm Canada, has lined up a Dec. 4 premiere. Based on the eponymous, best-selling novel by Shyam Selvadurai, the film follows a young boy’s sexual awakening in Sri Lanka during the turbulent Tamil-Sinhalese conflict leading up to the civil war. Ava DuVernay’s Array Releasing picked up the film for distribution earlier this month.
“Funny Boy” will air on CBC on Dec. 4 at 8 p.m. and will be available to stream on the broadcaster’s VOD service CBC Gem. It will also receive a theatrical release in Canada, as well as select cities throughout the U.S. in December. As revealed exclusively by Variety, the film will premiere on Netflix in the U.S., U.K., New Zealand and Australia on Dec. 10.
Shot on location in Colombo,...
- 10/27/2020
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
Deepa Mehta’s latest film, an adaptation of Shyam Selvadurai’s Sri Lanka-set coming-of-age novel “Funny Boy,” has been picked up by Ava DuVernay’s Array Releasing, and will land on Netflix this December, Variety can reveal.
The Oscar-nominated “Earth” and “Midnight’s Children” director wrote the screenplay for the film alongside Selvadurai, whose debut 1994 novel is set in Sri Lanka during the 1970s and 1980s and was ground-breaking in its discussion of identity politics against the backdrop of escalating conflict between the island nation’s Sinhalese majority and Tamil minority.
Shot on location in Colombo, the film explores Tamil protagonist Arjie’s (Arush Nand/Brandon Ingram) sexual awakening from a young boy, deemed “funny” by disapproving family, to a teenager enamoured by a male classmate, just as political tensions escalate between the Sinhalese and Tamils in the years leading up to the 1983 uprisings — violence that led into a 26-year civil war.
The Oscar-nominated “Earth” and “Midnight’s Children” director wrote the screenplay for the film alongside Selvadurai, whose debut 1994 novel is set in Sri Lanka during the 1970s and 1980s and was ground-breaking in its discussion of identity politics against the backdrop of escalating conflict between the island nation’s Sinhalese majority and Tamil minority.
Shot on location in Colombo, the film explores Tamil protagonist Arjie’s (Arush Nand/Brandon Ingram) sexual awakening from a young boy, deemed “funny” by disapproving family, to a teenager enamoured by a male classmate, just as political tensions escalate between the Sinhalese and Tamils in the years leading up to the 1983 uprisings — violence that led into a 26-year civil war.
- 10/15/2020
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
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