Queer pioneer

>> A new documentary examines the life of David Secter, the man behind the landmark 1965 film Winter Kept Us Warm


by MATTHEW HAYS

Montreal filmmaker Joel Secter clearly recalls the day he discovered the work of his uncle David. The younger Secter, now 28, came across a titillating movie he promptly rented. Titled Getting Together, it’s a sex comedy David Secter had made in the ’70s. Joel was astonished to see his uncle’s name in the credits and realized he had a filmmaking relative.
But Joel’s fascination with David only grew when he learned of the filmmaker’s odd place in indie film history. In 1965, when a wee 22 years old, David wrote and directed Winter Kept Us Warm, the first English-language Canadian film ever to be invited to the Cannes film festival. This was no small achievement, seeing as Canada had no film industry to speak of at the time; this was an age before Atom Egoyan, David Cronenberg, Bruce McDonald or queer directors like Bruce LaBruce, Patricia Rozema, John Greyson or Robert Lepage. Amazingly, Secter managed to make the film on a shoestring while a student at the University of Toronto with a bunch of his friends. The film’s legacy has not been lost on Canada’s current crop of high-profile auteurs; in the collection of interviews with horror demigod Cronenberg, Cronenberg on Cronenberg, the man behind Dead Ringers recalls that David Secter “had somehow hustled together a feature film… that was intriguing because it was completely unprecedented. And then the film appeared, and I was stunned. Shocked. Exhilarated. It was an unbelievable experience. This movie was a very sweet film.”
Now, nephew Joel is making a documentary about his uncle, titled Whatever Happened to David Secter? The film will include interviews with admirers and former collaborators of the filmmaker, including Cronenberg and Michael Ondaatje (who served as a production assistant on Secter’s next feature, The Offering).

Early frost

Making Winter Kept Us Warm even more incredible is its content. The film is, in a nutshell, a romance between two young men studying at U of T. Secter had fallen in love with another student at the time and the film is an autobiographical take on their bond. The fact that a film with this plot line (however subtle it may be) was made in a country with virtually no film infrastructure to speak of in the pre-sexual revolutionary mid-’60s is pretty amazing, to say the least.
Secter, who now lives in Long Beach, California and is 58, says he still watches Winter Kept Us Warm from time to time. “Oh yes,” he says, “I still cringe at all the same places. The awkward moments don’t get any less awkward as time goes on.”
Given its budget, the film can be forgiven for a few bits of awkward acting. Still, it’s a deeply affecting film. The plot has a shy, repressed young man arrive at the U of T dorm who is soon taken under wing by an outgoing, brash and funny man. Though the sexual element of their relationship is only hinted at, it’s quite clear this is a love story between the two men as the film unfolds. When the two develop relationships with girlfriends, jealous tempers flare.

Making new waves

Secter says his inspiration for the film’s style came from the French Nouvelle Vague. “Hollywood movies had a glitz at the time that I
couldn’t relate to. Jules et Jim, 400 Blows, I could relate to those films. Many of the Nouvelle Vague directors had started as film critics, and I had done some film criticism for the Varsity [U of T’s student paper]. Much of making the film just stemmed from ignorance, I suppose. They made movies, I figured, so why shouldn’t I?”
The making of the film was tricky, but Secter says many didn’t entirely realize his intentions with the same-sex relationship at the film’s core, so he managed to slip the plotline under people’s radar. Still, some were a bit nervous about it. “I would describe it as an unusually close friendship between the two men. I needed permission to shoot from the U of T administration and some were worried about the negative publicity the film might bring.” The actors weren’t uncomfortable, because, for the most part, they didn’t entirely get it. “I thought I was being clear about what the film was about,” Secter explains. “But they didn’t perceive their characters as gay.” Hard to believe, seeing as one scene even takes place in a Toronto bathhouse. (This must be the first gay movie ever to have such a scene, but the men are just chatting with one another.)

Can Cannes

As arduous as making Winter proved to be, the payoff was utterly sweet. Secter attended the 20th anniversary Cannes Film Festival (he was flown there on a Canada Council grant) and found himself rubbing elbows with iconic film names like Godard, Welles and Bresson. “Sophia Loren chaired the jury that year,” Secter recalls. “I ended up sitting with her at a dinner they’d organized. She was stunning. That was a heady experience. Cannes made me feel like I was the closest to levitating as I’ll ever get.”
After Winter, Secter went on to make another film about a gay relationship, The Offering. After Winter had a successful repertory run in New York, he moved there and worked for a decade as a theatre producer and writer. He then moved to California, where he still lives with his lover of 12 years. He has returned occasionally to filmmaking, his last feature being ’97’s CyberDorm.
Now, thanks to nephew Joel, David Secter is enjoying a new wave of interest. Slated for completion this summer, the hour-long Whatever Happened to David Secter? has drawn new attention to the filmmaker’s oeuvre, especially to Winter. Several video distributors have approached Secter about the possibility of releasing Winter Kept Us Warm on video and DVD (the film isn’t readily available today). And in March, the four principal cast members and Secter will be reunited for the first time since making the movie in ’64 for a special screening and panel discussion at a U of T film festival.
“I’m really crazy about my uncle,” says Joel, who cofounded the local video production house 8bit Studio. “His work has been so important to the Canadian film industry, and he was so ahead of his time. I want people to discover his fascinating work, like I’ve had the pleasure of doing.” :