Filmmaker Deepa Mehta’s Funny Boy is Canada’s official entry for the 93rd Institute Awards within the Best International Feature Film category, prior known as Best Foreign Dialect Film category.
An adaptation of Shyam Selvadurai’s coming-of-age novel of the same title, Funny Boy stars Brandon Ingram, Nimmi Harasgama, Ali Kazmi, Agam Darshi and Arush Nand. Set within the 1970s and 1980s, Funny Boy takes after the growing up years of Arjie in the midst of developing political pressures between the minority Tamils and the majority Sinhalese in Sri Lanka.
The official Twitter handle of Telefilm Canada shared the audio of Deepa Mehta’s reaction when its Executive Director Christa Dickenson broke the news to her. An ecstatic Mehta said in the audio, “That says so much about our country. It really does. It says so much about inclusion. I’m so happy.”This is Deepa Mehta’s second film to get an Oscar nomination in the international feature film category.
Her third directorial in the Elements trilogy, Water, got selected in 2007.The upcoming Academy Awards will be held on April 25, 2021. The final Oscar nominations will be announced on March 15.
