Winter Kept Us Warm

English Canada’s first gay film, and why you’ve never heard of it.

Winter Kept Us Warm explores a romance between two young men at the University of Toronto in the early 1960s, when being gay was still a crime in Canada. The film achieved international success when first released but has largely disappeared form the contemporary queer film canon. Chris Dupuis examines the film’s creation, disappearance, and what this story reveals about queer history more broadly.

Chris Dupuis is a writer, curator, and performance-maker, originally from Toronto.

Chris Dupuis is a writer, curator, and performance maker in Toronto.

"Winter Kept Us Warm is long overdue for a reassessment. Chris Dupuis' important book attempts to answer the question: ‘How does a film so radical in its approach, so lauded upon its release, and so important to the history of queer and Canadian cinema, virtually disappear?’" *The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide *

“Winter Kept Us Warm is the most influential film of my life.” David Cronenberg, interview in The Observer

“More than a simple historical reclamation of a 'classic' or a tribute to a queer film pioneer, the strength of Dupuis's book rests in situating the film as a site of contradictions and logistical, political, and pragmatic compromises. While noting the film’s rough edges and deeply ambivalent sexual politics, the author makes a convincing case for Winter Kept Us Warm as a groundbreaking social and historical artifact that offers unprecedented insights into queer being and becoming of another era.” Brenda Longfellow, York University