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June 06, 2005

The Forsaken Land Wins at CannesArts and Entertainment

vimukthi.jpg
Director Vimukthi Jayasundara this past May became the first Sri Lankan to ever win the prestigious Camera d’Or award for Best First Film, or any award for that matter, at the world reknowned Cannes Film Festival for his Sinhalese language film Sulanga Enu Pinisa (The Forsaken Land).

Jaysundara, who was trained trained at the Institute of the Cinema and Television of Pune, in India, shares the award at Cannes with an American, Miranda July for her work, Me And You And Everyone We Know.

When asked to talk about the film, Jayasundara said,

"If The Forsaken Land has something to do with my country's history, it is especially through its conveyance of the suspended state of being simultaneously without war and without peace – in between the two. I wanted to capture this strange atmosphere... For me, filmmaking is an ideal vehicle for expressing the mental stress people experience as a result of the emptiness and indecisiveness they feel in their lives. With the film, I wanted to examine emotional isolation in a world where war, peace and God have become abstract notions."

Thankfully, getting to see this film will be made easier by his win at Cannes as his film has found distribution in the U.S and in his native Sri Lanka.

More on Jayasundara and his win here, here, here, and here.

sajit on June 6, 2005 10:06 AM in Arts and Entertainment · T·r·a·c·k·b·a·c·k address · Direct link · Email post



5 comments

 1 · aswin on June 6, 2005 02:01 PM · Direct link · “Quote”(?)

You mean FTII Pune?
More on Indian connections at Cannes: http://147.208.132.198/news/181_1366682,00110003.htm


 2 · anangbhai on June 6, 2005 04:52 PM · Direct link · “Quote”(?)

Hell YES. HELL YES.
All right he's not Indian but still a brown brutha.
Plus his statement rocks. Not political but humanist.


 3 · Tamara on June 6, 2005 05:59 PM · Direct link · “Quote”(?)

I just finished living in Sri Lanka and this makes me very proud that my husband's country is being honored! There is an underlying tension in Sri Lanka but despite this I felt very safe there even while alone. It may be more towards the Tamil State where things are more tense right now.


 4 · Ananthan on June 6, 2005 07:22 PM · Direct link · “Quote”(?)
It may be more towards the Tamil State where things are more tense right now.

yeah, probably because it's full of scowling sri lankan army soldiers


 5 · Tilo on June 8, 2005 12:21 PM · Direct link · “Quote”(?)

ananthan - he,he.........


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