European Film Festival 2012 to kick off in Kegalle

By Melissa Perera

The European Union Delegation in partnership with Alliance Francaise de Kotte, British Council, Embassy of France, Goethe Institute, Embassy of Italy, Embassy of the Netherlands, Embassy of Norway, Consulate of Poland, and Embassy of Switzerland in Sri Lanka, officially launched the European Film Festival 2012 yesterday, at the European Union Delegation in Colombo.

The conference kicked off with a warm welcome by Anoma Rajakaruna, the festival curator. She spoke on the importance of this festival and thanked the eight delegations for contributing their immense effort in making it a success.

The representatives of the delegations

She made it very clear as to why they chose Kegalle, a city which is not prominent on the historical map, instead of Galle. Kegalle has its own unique theatre which was built recently at the St. Joseph’s Balika Maha Vidyalaya Auditorium, which can accommodate roughly 350 spectators.

The Director of Film Corporation thanked the delegation of EU on behalf of the Film Corporation. A representative of the British Council, Netherlands Embassy Secretary Yako, and other representatives of the rest of the delegations, each gave a slight description of the films they will be contributing, to make the festival a success.   

This is the fifth consecutive year that this festival is taking place in Sri Lanka, and this year, the organising committee is chaired by the European Union Delegation in Colombo and coordinated by Agenda 14. The National Film Corporation of Sri Lanka, in making this event a success every year, joins hands as a partner of this year’s European Film Festival as well. As Sri Lanka marks the 50 anniversary of its Tamil cinema, this year’s festival will be opened with the screening of Sri Lankan Tamil film ‘Ini Avan’ which translates to ‘him, here, after,’ by Asoka Handagama.

‘Ini Avan’ has been screened at other film festivals, namely ACID Selections for Cannes 2012, Jeonju International Film Festival 2012, Edinburgh International Film Festival, Hamburg International Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, and the Tokyo International Film Festival in France, Germany and UK.

Snapshot of ‘Ini Avani’

‘Ini Avani’ is a film created around the 30-year-old war, which is long enough to create a generation that knows of nothing but handling a sophisticated weapon. At the end of the war, a large number of young people who joined the LTTE as child soldiers were captured and put into rehabilitation centres. They were sent back to their homes after receiving vocational training, under rapid rehabilitation programs. But life is not easy back home.

They were often unwelcome by the villages. Parents, who lost their sons and daughters during war, naturally hated those who survived. Getting back into normal life is therefore a yet another battle for these ex-militants; even harder and deadlier that the one they were previously engaged in. This resistive condition often made it difficult for them to find a decent livelihood.

Continuous hardships can make them vulnerable to be exploited by agents of illicit trades. Thus, once victimised by forceful recruitment to the war machine, these ‘innocent’ men and women can again be exposed to a vicious cycle of violence and suffering. The film brings out this important issue in the form of an independent movie.     

The screenings

Festival Curator Anoma Rajakaruna addressing the media

The most recently released and highly acclaimed 14 European films in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Switzerland and UK will be screened at this year’s festival. Titles among this yeas screening list include ‘Black Venus’ (France), ‘The Deep Blue Sea’ (UK), ‘4 Days in May’ (Germany), ‘Mary and Johnny’ (Switzerland), ‘Bon Voyage’ (the Netherlands), ‘Limbo’ (Norway),and ‘80 Millions’ (Poland).

‘Into Paradiso’, the closing film of this year’s festival, is an Italian film about a scientist from Naples, a shy and clumsy man and a fascinating former Sri Lankan champion who arrived in Naples penniless.

The festival in Colombo will be open for public from 1 to 7 December 2012 with screenings each day at 3.30 p.m. and 6.30 p.m. at the National Film Corporation Cinema, Bauddhaloka Mawatha, Colombo 07. Entrance for all the films will be free of charge. Thereafter, the festival will travel to Kegalle and Jaffna. The festival program in each location includes a total of four films; three European films and one Sri Lankan film ‘In Avan’. The screenings will be held in Kegalle, at St. Joseph’s Balika Maha Vidyalaya (primary) Auditorium on 8 December 2012 and in Jaffna, at the Centre for Performing Arts on 15 December 2012

This festival is a shared international cultural experience that aims to promote friendly relationships and to increase mutual understanding between European nations and Sri Lanka.   

 – Pix by Lasantha Kumara