''Winter Kept Us Warm'' is a Canadian romantic drama film, released in 1965. The title comes from the fifth line of T.S. Eliot's ''

The Waste Land ''The Waste Land'' is a poem by T. S. Eliot, widely regarded as one of the most important poems of the 20th century and a central work of Modernist poetry in English, modernist poetry. Published in 1922, the 434-line poem first appeared in the ...

''. An independent film written, directed, and funded by

David Secter David Secter is a Canadian film director. He is best known for the 1965 film '' Winter Kept Us Warm'', the first English Canadian film ever screened at the Cannes Film Festival.Geoff Pevere"David Secter, the Varsity visionary: How a low-budget st ...

, it occupies a unique place in the history of

Canadian cinema ''Canadian Cinema'' was a Canadian television series about films which aired on CBC Television in 1974. Premise Feature films from Canada were presented in this series:Dates verifiable from TV listings July–August 1974 from ''The Globe and Ma ...

as the first English-language Canadian film screened at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films ...

. The film was screened at the 1966 festival during the

Semaine de la critique Critics' Week (french: link=no, Semaine de la critique), until 2008 called International Critics' Week ('), is a parallel section to the Cannes Film Festival organized by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics. It was created in 1962 after the Fre ...

, a special non-competitive portion of the festival at which works of new filmmakers are shown.Martin Knelman, "He shoots The Offering in July". ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', May 19, 1966. Its debut was as the opening film of the Commonwealth Film Festival in Cardiff, Wales on September 27, 1965.David Secter, "Lack of experience helps: How to make a do-it-yourself movie without money". ''

'', November 17, 1965. The film stars

John Labow John Avery Leon Labow (November 28, 1942 - December 11, 2017) was a Canadian film and television producer,David Parker, "Producer John Labow sets up in Calgary". ''Calgary Herald'', June 10, 2014. most noted as a producer of documentaries for TVOnt ...

as Doug Harris and Henry Tarvainen as Peter Saarinen, two very different students at the University of Toronto, who develop a complex quasi-romantic friendship, and Joy Tepperman and Janet Amos as their girlfriends Bev and Sandra.

Thomas Waugh Thomas Waugh is a Canadian critic, lecturer, author, actor, and activist, best known for his extensive work on documentary film and eroticism in the history of LGBT cinema and art. A professor emeritus at Concordia University, he taught 41 years ...

, "Uncovering a forgotten Canadian gay film–from 1965". '' The Body Politic'', May 1982. p. 36. The film's gay subtext was carefully coded by Secter, who wrote the film based on his own experience falling in love with a male fellow student, but feared that a more explicitly gay film would not attract an audience. Even some of the film's cast have claimed in interviews that they did not know at the time that the film was actually about homosexuality.

Geoff Pevere Geoff Pevere (born October 1957) is a Canadian lecturer, author, broadcaster, teacher, arts and media critic, currently the program director of the Rendezvous With Madness Film Festival in Toronto.John Semley, "Can we play with madness?: Toronto' ...

"David Secter, the Varsity visionary: How a low-budget student movie went to Cannes and influenced a generation of Toronto filmmakers"
''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and par ...

'', June 25, 2011.

Production

The film received a $750 grant from the

University of Toronto Students' Union The University of Toronto Students' Union (UTSU), legally known as the Students' Administrative Council of the University of Toronto, Inc., is the representative student government of full-time undergraduate students at the University of Toronto ...

, along with permission to film several key scenes at Hart House;Ralph Hicklin, "Friendship and $750 main ingredients of campus film". ''

'', November 21, 1964. however, Secter had to fight the university administration for permission to film in other locations on campus. As well, the film was declined production grants from the

Canada Council The Canada Council for the Arts (french: Conseil des arts du Canada), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It acts as the fede ...

, the

Ontario Arts Council The Ontario Arts Council (OAC) is a publicly-funded Canadian organization in the province of Ontario whose purpose is to foster the creation and production of art for the benefit of all Ontarians. Based in Toronto, OAC was founded in 1963 by On ...

and the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary fi ...

. Secter found much of the cast by placing a classified advertisement in the university's student newspaper '' The Varsity''; however, for technical crew he largely had to go to Ryerson Polytechnic's film studies department. According to Secter, "at the time I made it the very idea of making movies in Canada was an alien concept". His only prior film experience was the eight-minute short film ''Love with the Proper Guppy''. Having been a film reviewer for ''The Varsity'', he has stated that he was inspired by the

French New Wave French New Wave (french: La Nouvelle Vague) is a French art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentation and a spirit of iconocla ...

: "A lot of those New Wave guys had started out as critics, and I thought, ‘Hey, if they can move from talking about movies to making movies, why can’t I?’"

Critical response

The film was given a Special Jury Award at the Festival of Canadian Films in Montreal. Frank Morriss of ''The Globe and Mail'' noticed the "overtones of homosexuality" in Doug and Peter's friendship. He reviewed the film positively overall, writing that "when the two fall into a casual relationship, Labow's accent on having a good time, and Tarvainen's earnest desire to make good, has interest. It is when Tarvainen gains confidence and Labow's emotional feelings begin to run amuck, that the movie begins to go down the drain, and lose direction." He ultimately concluded, however, that the film "has enough in its favour to deserve the patronage of film fans who want to see what a group of university students can do with the challenge of a feature movie." Writing about the film for '' The Body Politic'' in 1982,

expressed concern about the fact that gay-themed films of its era rarely depicted positive same-sex relationships, but instead usually centred on love triangles involving a woman; while acknowledging that ''Winter Kept Us Warm'' reflected this trope, he complimented the film for portraying its women characters with greater integrity than usual for the genre.

Legacy

Although not widely remembered among the general public, ''Winter Kept Us Warm'' is considered a major milestone in the Canadian film industry as one of the first Canadian films ever to attract international attention. Secter made a second film, '' The Offering'', in 1966, one of the first Canadian films to depict an interracial romance. Secter subsequently moved to the United States. In 1976, he directed the low budget sex comedy ''

Getting Together ''Getting Together'' is an American musical sitcom that aired on ABC during the 1971–72 U.S. television season. It starred Bobby Sherman and Wes Stern as Bobby Conway and Lionel Poindexter, a songwriting duo. The pilot for the series had aired ...

'', but subsequently left the film industry. The film was screened at the 1984 Festival of Festivals as part of Front & Centre, a special retrospective program of artistically and culturally significant films from throughout the history of Canadian cinema. In the 1990s, Secter's nephew Joel Secter rented ''Getting Together'', not knowing that his uncle had directed films. Seeing David's name in the credits, Joel contacted his uncle to talk about his film career. Those discussions ultimately led to Joel Secter's own debut as a filmmaker, the 2005 documentary '' The Best of Secter and the Rest of Secter''. Notable figures who discussed Secter and ''Winter Kept Us Warm'' in the documentary included

David Cronenberg David Paul Cronenberg (born March 15, 1943) is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is one of the principal originators of what is commonly known as the body horror genre, with his films exploring visceral bodily transformation ...

Michael Ondaatje Philip Michael Ondaatje (; born 12 September 1943) is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian poet, fiction writer, essayist, novelist, editor, and filmmaker. He is the recipient of multiple literary awards such as the Governor General's Award, the Giller P ...

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimalism, being built up from repetitive ...

Ed Mirvish Edwin "Honest Ed" Mirvish, (July 24, 1914 – July 11, 2007) was an American-Canadian businessman, philanthropist and theatrical impresario who lived in Toronto, Ontario. He is known for his flagship business, Honest Ed's, a landmark disc ...

and

Lloyd Kaufman Stanley Lloyd Kaufman Jr. (born December 30, 1945) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. Alongside producer Michael Herz, he is the co-founder of Troma Entertainment film studio, and the director of many of their featur ...

. The film was released on DVD by

TLA Video TLA Releasing is a US film distribution and production company owned by TLA Entertainment Group. In March 2011, a new LLC was formed for the operation. Its primary output is LGBT-related films from all over the world under the "TLA Releasing" lab ...

in early 2011. In 2015, the film was screened at

Buddies in Bad Times Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is a Canadian professional theatre company. Based in Toronto, Ontario and founded in 1978 by Matt Walsh, Jerry Ciccoritti, and Sky Gilbert, ''Buddies in Bad Times'' is dedicated to "the promotion of queer theatrical e ...

during Toronto's

Pride Week LGBT pride (also known as gay pride or simply pride) is the promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people as a social group. Pride, as opposed to sh ...

as the centrepiece of a selection of LGBT-themed Canadian films, to mark the launch of Thomas Waugh's Queer Media Database project."Online database of queer Canadian movies launching at Toronto Pride"
''

'', June 24, 2015.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0232954, Winter Kept Us Warm 1965 films 1965 independent films 1965 LGBT-related films 1965 romantic drama films Canadian black-and-white films Canadian romantic drama films Canadian independent films Canadian LGBT-related films English-language Canadian films Films directed by David Secter Films set in Toronto Films set in universities and colleges Films shot in Toronto LGBT history in Canada LGBT-related romantic drama films 1965 directorial debut films Canadian student films 1960s English-language films 1960s Canadian films