C.R.A.Z.Y
A Queer Film Classic Book Launch

On March 4th, things are going to get a little C.R.A.Z.Y.

Come celebrate the launch of Arsenal Pulp Press's newest book in their Queer Film Classics series about one of the most distinctive touchstones of French-Canadian queer cinema—and one of TIFF's Top 10 Canadian Films of All Time—Jean-Marc Vallée's C.R.A.Z.Y.

Author Robert Schwartzwald will explore the film's context and controversy, aided by clips from the film. Filmmaker and activist John Greyson will introduce the event.

Presented by Pages UnBound in collaboration with Arsenal Pulp Press, PRIDE Toronto, Alliance Française, and York Cinema & Media Arts.

About the film:

A Queer Film Classic on the 2005 film by French–Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallée (best known for Dallas Buyers Club and Wild), about a young gay man named Zac growing up in the 1960s and '70s who struggles to find his sense of self amidst a “crazy” family of four brothers, a loving mother, and a macho father who seeks to cure him when the boy reveals that he prefers dolls to hockey, David Bowie to Patsy Cline, and his cousin's boyfriend Paul's luscious lips to those of the girl next door. With exquisite attention to period detail, at once highly realistic and magical, C.R.A.Z.Y. chronicles Zac's place in an evolving family romance set against the backdrop of Quebec's “Quiet Revolution,” when traditional Catholic culture made way for the modern age. The film won a best picture Genie Award (Canada's version of the Oscars) in 2006.

About the book:

Robert Schwartzwald's book discusses the film's context within a turbulent Quebec, and how French Canada is situated between, and conflicted about, American and French popular culture.