Ranga Bandaranayake wins golden award for ‘The Silence’ at XXI International Festival in Moscow

On 26 April, Ranga Bandaranayake, an experienced well-known Sri Lankan TV drama and program producer, son of a Sri Lankan film director and playwright, Kala Keerthi Dharmasiri Bandaranayake, won the golden award for his film ‘The Silence’ under the category of ‘Civil society’ – Documentary films devoted to the fight for civil rights, at the XXI International Festival of Detective Films and Television programs on Law-Enforcement Themes ‘DetectiveFEST’, which was held in Moscow on 22-28 April.

1,218 films and TV productions of 78 countries were contesting in 12 categories at this International Film Festival. 

The DetectiveFEST, which is organised by the production company Detective, with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, featured films (full-length and short films), documentary films and TV series, animation films, thematic TV programs and TV spots, produced by film and TV companies. 

Six nominees from Sri Lanka Rupavahini (TV) Corporation were contesting in three categories. Short films Shadows, directed by Athula Peiris, and Pots of Milk, directed by Ranga Bandaranayake were nominated under the category of ‘Game film (short film) detective, law enforcement, military and antiterrorist’. A Taste of Ceylon Tea, directed by Shiran Ratnayake, and The Silence, were contesting under the ‘Civil society’ – about citizens’ fight for their rights’ category, while The Swallow Nest Racket and The Elephant Story, directed by Nishadi Ruwanmalie were contesting under the ‘Environmental crimes – the fight against crimes in the field of ecology’ catgory. 

Sri Lankan nominees received second highest number of awards (five awards) at the festival, with the highest number of awards being awarded to Russian contenders. 

On 2 May, Ranga Bandaranayake and his spouse met with Ambassador of Sri Lanka Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka and Sanja Jayatilleka at the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Moscow.