Deepa Mehta’s Funny Boy is heading to CBC.

Co-written by the Oscar-nominated filmmaker (pictured) and Toronto-based Sri Lankan-Canadian author Shyam Selvadurai – who penned the 1994 coming-of-age novel of the same name – Mehta’s upcoming feature film will make its exclusive broadcast and streaming world premiere on CBC TV and CBC Gem on Dec. 4 at 8 p.m.

Produced by David Hamilton and Hussain Amarshi, the Sri Lanka-shot-and-set project follows a young boy’s sexual awakening during the turbulent Tamil-Sinhalese conflict and marks Sri Lankan actor Brandon Ingram’s feature film debut.

“My mantra as a filmmaker has always been what one of the great filmmakers of all times, Luis Buñuel, said: ‘When a film is particular, that’s the very minute it becomes universal.’ Funny Boy, set on the island of Sri Lanka in the middle of its long and bloody civil war, is also a film about the power of love,” said a statement from Mehta, who was recently named the St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival’s DGC Visionaries Award recipient. “In many ways, Funny Boy reflects the times of divisiveness we are living in today, where the call for a just society, a call for humanity is what we are all striving for.”

Notably, earlier this month, Funny Boy was acquired by Selma and When They See Us filmmaker Ava DuVernay’s distribution label ARRAY Releasing and was announced to debut on Netflix in U.S., U.K., New Zealand and Australia on Dec. 10th.

Hamilton Mehta Productions’ Hamilton told Playback Daily that dependent on theatres being open, the team is planning a theatrical release for the film in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Montreal and Toronto on Nov. 20th as well as a joint Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and Mosaic International South Asian Film Festival (MISAFF) screening on Nov. 19th. Additionally, the Funny Boy producer, whose credits include Beeba Boys, noted that the team is in the early stages of planning a release in Whitehorse.

Supported by CBC Films, Telefilm Canada and Ontario Creates, Funny Boy also stars Nimmi Harasgama, Ali Kazmi, Agam Darshi and Arush Nand.

Image of Mehta courtesy of Janick Laurent