The first English language film from Canada to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival, David Secter’s elegant coming of age film is set on the still recognizable campus of the University of Toronto. This skillfully wrought 1965 film features a familiar cast of characters that could exist in any decade. The film centres around Peter, an enthusiastic if shy new student and his relationship with the seemingly more sophisticated and popular Doug who helps initiate him into campus life. Their passionate new friendship develops over the course of the school year. Although it is never made explicit in the film, Secter’s treatment of the homoerotic bond between the pair was daring for it’s time, and the subtlety with which the relationship is treated makes the story all the more powerful and poignant.

Programme:

Winter Kept Us Warm, David Secter, 1965, Canada, 16mm, 81 min

Written, Produced and Directed by David Secter; Starring John Labow (Doug), Henry Tarvainen (Peter); Music by Paul Hoffert; Cinematography by Robert Fresco & Ernest T. L. Meershoek;

Edited by Michael Foytényi

@ Gladstone Hotel, Art Bar | 1214 Queen St West

Monday January 13, 2014 | 8:00 PM screening | $5-10 suggested donation

Early Monthly Segments is a monthly film series named after an early film by Robert Beavers, and is inspired by the immediacy, vibrancy and experimentation found in that film. Programmed by Scott Berry, Chris Kennedy, and Kate MacKay this series features historical and contemporary avant-garde films in a salon-like setting at the Gladstone Art Bar.

Thanks to CFMDC + The Gladstone Hotel.

Contact earlymonthlysegments@gmail.com for email list.