109 minutes – Drama
Language: English, Sinhala, Tamil
Festival release date: November 16, 2020 (Available Light Film Festival, Whitehorse, Yukon)
Release date: November 27, 2020 (Canada)
World broadcast premiere: (December 4, 2020 – CBC Canada)
Production company: Hamilton Mehta Productions
Canadian distributor:
U.S. distributor: Array

Set in Sri Lanka in the 1970s and ‘80s, Funny Boy follows the story of Arjie, as a boy of eight and as a teenager living in an upper middle-class family, who struggles with his sexual orientation in a deeply conservative society. As political tensions escalate to a boiling point between the minority Tamils and the majority Sinhalese, Arjie comes of age in a society and family that refuses to embrace differences outside of societal norms. The film mirrors the oppression of the Tamil people with the marginalization Arjie suffers because of who he is and who he loves. Funny Boy chronicles a country torn apart by fear and abuse of power, while Arjie’s struggles to find balance and self-love despite the absence of empathy and understanding.

Funny Boy was selected as the Canadian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards.
Also see: Funny Boy on CBC.