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Sri Lanka is making a stronger pitch to woo valuable foreign exchange earning foreign film production in the country, with last week marking two key initiatives involving veteran industry professional Sunil Ratnayake.
Tourism Minister John Amaratunga appointed Ratnayake as the Coordinator for Foreign Films and Television Productions in Sri Lanka. The move comes hot on the heels of Ratnayake’s main venture Teleview Ltd., in a bold yet ground breaking initiative investing Rs. 100 million to secure the world famous and most advanced Arri Alexa Super XT camera and Ultra Prime lenses.
Described as the world’s best, the Germany’s Arri Alexa Super XT Camera is used by over 80% of Hollywood productions. Last year 8 out of 11 movies nominated for Oscars and 11 out of 12 nominations in 2015 were made using Arri Alexa cameras.
At its formal launch and the ceremony to announce the appointment of Ratnayake, a senior cinema and television professional with over 30 years’ experience, the film industry hailed the twin developments. Ministers Ravi Karunanayake, Dr. Rajitha Senaratne and John Amaratunga as well as Board of Investment Chairman Upul Jayasuriya also congratulated Sunil Ratnayake for his pioneering and futuristic initiative.
Veteran actor and promoter of Sri Lanka as a film location Ravindra Randeniya said the country can earn a higher degree of foreign exchange by effectively marketing the destination. “Sri Lanka is a God-made film set,” Randeniya quoted Bollywood fame the late DevAnand as saying.
Randeniya said that recently the country earned Sterling Pounds 3.2 million in foreign exchange when British TV drama ‘Karma Hospital’ was filmed. This production saw over 200 local crew employed and 48 British artists staying in Sri Lanka for nearly six months. In the process the film provided livelihood for villages in the Galle district for many weeks.
Randeniya also said previously filming of ‘Bombay Velvet’ brought in foreign exchange earnings of $ 5 million.
“Sri Lanka is a natural film destination and the immense potential to attract global film production can be harnessed with the right incentives and encouragement,” Randeniya emphasised, pointing out how countries such as Malaysia and Thailand were actively promoting this form of foreign exchange earnings whilst boosting tourism via global publicity and screening. He said Malaysia was most aggressive offering 35% rebate to foreign film production.
The veteran actor also said lack of world class equipment was a major impediment in Sri Lanka since anyone who wanted to do a film production had to bring the camera from abroad or hire it from neighbouring countries at higher cost.
In that context he described Sunil Ratnayake’s investment as “history making” filling a major void in a country aspiring to be a film destination. “His investment as well as the appointment by the Tourism Ministry will catapult Sri Lanka in the world of film production,” Randeniya added.
Another top film director Asoka Handagama said Sri Lankan cinema too stand to benefit from Sunil Ratnayake’s venture hence highly commendable. He expressed the hope that through the use of world’s advanced camera, Lankan cinema too can aspire to succeed globally.
Ministers Karunanayake, Senaratne and Amaratunga in their respective speeches also commended the initiative by Ratnayake whilst emphasising Sri Lanka under a Good Governance regime is now more attractive globally with positive sentiment from the international community. They also said the initiatives will boost tourist arrivals.
Some of the world famous films which were shot in Sri Lanka include ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’ in 1957, ‘Indiana Jones – Templeof Doom’ in 1984, ‘Tarzan the Ape Man’ in 1981, ‘Mother Theresa’ in 1997, ‘Water’ in 2005, ‘Ready’ in 2011 and ‘Bombay Velvet’ in 2015. Among the popular documentary films were the Disney Natures’ ‘The Monkey Kingdom’.
Aari Director Sales Hans Salzinger highlighted why Aari Alexa Super XT camera and Ultra Prime lenses are the world’s best and attributed its technology had played a key part in many of the Hollywood and Bollywood blockbusters.
He said with headquarters located in Munich, Germany, ARRI founded in 1917 is the world’s leading designer, manufacturer and distributor of motion picture camera, digital intermediate (DI) and lighting equipment. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has recognised ARRI’s engineers and their technical contributions with 18 Scientific and Engineering Awards.
The ARRI group comprises a global network of subsidiaries and partners covering every facet of the film industry, including worldwide camera, grip and lighting equipment rental through ARRI Rental; turnkey lighting solutions through the ARRI System Group; and film production, postproduction, lab services, visual effects and distribution through ARRI Media. In 2013 ARRI Medical was founded to utilise ARRI’s core imaging technology and know-how for medical applications.
Manufactured products include the ALEXA 65, ALEXA SXT, ALEXA Mini and AMIRA cameras; Master Anamorphic lenses; SkyPanel, L-Series and M-Series lights; Pro Camera Accessories and the Electronic Control System; the ARRILASER recorder and ARRISCAN archive technologies; and the ARRISCOPE 3D digital surgical microscope.
-Pix by Ruwan Walpola
ARRI’s centenary year kicks off with the news that AMPAS is to recognise the “intuitive design” of ALEXA with a Scientific and Engineering Award.
The award, which takes the form of an Academy Plaque, honors ARRI for the pioneering design and engineering of the Super 35 format ALEXA digital camera system. It will be handed to ARRI representatives at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences annual Scientific and Technical Awards presentation, taking place on February 11th at the Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills, CA.
This prestigious accolade will be the 19th Scientific and Technical Award presented to ARRI over the course of its long and innovative history, and is a fitting start to 2017, the company’s centenary year.
ALEXA was introduced in 2010, quickly becoming the most trusted and widely used digital camera system for professional film and television production worldwide. With highly upgradeable system architecture, ALEXA has evolved through software updates and hardware upgrades to keep pace with the industry’s rapidly changing needs. For the last five years, every film to win the Academy Award® for Best Cinematography has been captured with ALEXA.
In its citation, the Academy states: “With an intuitive design and appealing image reproduction, achieved through close collaboration with filmmakers, ARRI’s ALEXA cameras were among the first digital cameras widely adopted by cinematographers.”
Dr. JörgPohlman and Franz Kraus, the two Executive Board members at ARRI AG, comment, “We thank the Academy for its recognition of the ALEXA camera system – aproduct line that we are proud to say has immensely strengthened our relationship with filmmakers. For us, this is the best possible opening to a year in which we are celebrating 100 years of partnership with the industry since ARRI was founded in 1917.”
Ray Feeney, Chair of the Scientific and Technical Awards Committee, notes, “This year we are particularly pleased to be able to honour not only a wide range of new technologies, but also the pioneering digital cinema cameras that helped facilitate the widespread conversion to electronic image capture for motion picture production. With their outstanding, innovative work, these technologists, engineers and inventors have significantly expanded filmmakers’ creative choices for moving image storytelling.”
Unlike other Academy Awards, achievements receiving Scientific and Technical Awards need not have been developed and introduced during 2016. Rather, the achievements must demonstrate a proven record of contributing significant value to the process of making motion pictures.
