Preserving knowledge and National Heritage in artistic form
Sisira Suraweera - a pioneer documentary film maker
cum researcher
Up-close and personal by Ranga Chandrarathne
A documentary film being an art of its own kind is not only educative
but also immensely creative in terms of preserving, disseminating and
recording events, phenomena and a certain form of practice for the
posterity.
According to Sisira Suraweera, a researcher cum documentary film
maker who has amassed invaluable experience and hand-on knowledge in the
field, though Sri Lanka has not hitherto recognised, documentary filming
is an area that the country can not only excel in but also compete with
rivals even at international level.
Given the financial and technical constrains, Sri Lanka cannot
compete successfully at international level in the area of Teledrama.
However, the tradition and the style of documentary filming in Sri
Lanka which was commenced by the pioneer documentary film makers
themselves such as John Grierson, Basil Wrights, and Ralph Keen, has
flourished at the hands of a successive generation of Sri Lankan
documentary filmmakers who were directly influenced by pioneering
documentary filmmakers and their monumental works.
Pragnasoma Hettiarachchi, Dr. Lester James Peiris, Gorge
Wickremesinghe, Irvin Dassanayaka, Dr. D. B. Nihalsinghe and Tissa
Liyanasuriya are among the next generation of Sri Lankan documentary
filmmakers.
Suraweera is of the opinion that the history of documentary film
making in Sri Lanka goes as far back as 1903 where there was evidence of
the screening of Silent movies including documentaries.
During the World War I, documentaries were brought down to Sri Lanka
principally to entertain the foreign soldiers and officers stationed in
Sri Lanka.
Rajakeeya Wickramaya which is considered to be the first Sinhala
film, was produced around 1925. Even this was produced in India.
In retrospect Sisira Suraweera considers the birth of the first Sri
Lankan documentary film in Basil Right's Song of Ceylon in 1934. The
publication of Observer in the same year, the official commencement of
Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) in 1925 and the production of
the first Sri Lankan Rajakeeya Wickramaya (according to one scholar of
thinking) are watersheds in the contemporary history of mass
communication in Sri Lanka.
Song of Ceylon which Basil Rights produced for the Sri Lanka Tea
Board as a propaganda film, is considered as one of the finest
documentaries in the world in terms of its classical and lasting value.
Arthur Nights describes it as a documentary with a poetic style and a
lasting work. However, Song of Ceylon was produced in Britain.
Sisira Suraweera attributes not producing a documentary in TV to the
documentary being not so popular a medium and as it also does not incur
much profit. Another reason for the slow death of documentary films is
that a lot of research is needed to produce a documentary.
Sisira believes that documentary films are an excellent medium to
mark Sri Lanka on the world map and to propagate Sri Lankan culture and
heritage.
According to John Grierson The documentary film itself has been
defined as a film which is a creative interpretation of reality. Sisira
laments on the present awful state of documentary cinema in Sri Lanka
which is largely attributed to the misunderstanding of the medium. Some
producers make documentaries with a lot of interviews and few visuals
and also use actors and actresses in documentaries.
According to Sisira Suraweera, this practice goes against the very
fundamentals of documentary as it's is not the reality which is
portrayed in the film. The attention of the film is drawn to the actors
and actresses and not to the subject of the film. Sisira considers them
as documentaries far from being realistic.
Sisira's forte in documentary film is culture and diverse facets of
it. For instance, Sisira's documents on the Vedda (Sri Lankan
aborigines) community are both insightful and informative.
He also produced a large number of documentaries on rituals and
traditions. At present, Sisira is working on a documentary on Kem, a
method of simple technology that has been handed down from generation to
generation often by word of mouth.
It has now been identified that there is a simple scientific method
behind the traditional practice of Kem. For instance, there is a
practice among farmers to beat on to a copper plate with a stick and
carry it around the paddyfield to drive away insects. The copper plate
generates waves that are harmful to the insects and when the farmer
produces them, animals run off the field. Hitler used harmful waves to
kill people.
Scattering milk rice (Kiribath) in the field at dawn is another kem
that farmers practise to destroy the worms in the field. The birds that
came to the field would perch on a planted thorny branch of the tree in
the field or an unturned coconut husk attached to a stick which is also
planted in the field. The birds not only eat milk rice but also the
worms in the field.
Lighting oil lamps in a paddyfield is another kem. When a lamp is lit
the insects are attracted to the light and get destroyed by burning
themselves in the flame. This is also an effective method of destroying
insects. Almost all the traditional practices of Kem are associated with
religion.
Sisira is of the view that by popularizing these traditional
practices, the use of pesticides and weedicides can be reduced. Sisira
Suraweera has so far produced 48 documentary programmes and 384
Television programmes.
In 1983, he was granted a Special Award for the best TV documentary
programme for Kaludiyamanthi (Black Diamond) by the Asia-Pacific
Broadcasting Union New Zealand. It is the first TV award won by Sri
Lanka. He won 5 National Awards and 5 International awards.
Isle of Serendipity, his documentary won two international awards
from USA and Germany. Sisira`s production, Dendro Power is a documentary
produced on generating electricity by Dendro Power which is now being
screened at Ekotop Film festival in Slovia.
Sisira maintains that meticulous research should be carried out on
the subject prior to the production of a documentary. Among the methods
that he uses in gathering information are absorbing relevant information
from books, field study which Sisira believes as an excellent source of
authentic information since a corpus of indigenous knowledge exists
among communities that are hitherto undiscovered by researchers.
He also uses the internet and archives as tools of gathering
information. Since the inception of the Government's Film Unit in 1948,
the major task entrusted with it was producing documentary films and the
news real. However, at present, Government's Film Unit (GFU) has not
been producing documentary films.
In reflecting on the birth of the GFU, Sisira recalled how a
coincidence led to the birth of Government's Film Unit. In 1948, a group
of businessmen formed a commercial entity named Ranga Movietone with the
intention of producing a film based on W. A. Silva's novel. The company
decided to hire the service of two Italian filmmakers; Julio Petroni and
Fedriko Sera. However, this turned out to be a non-starter virtually
rendering the two Italian Filmmakers unemployed.
They filmed the 1948 independence celebration unwittingly marking a
milestone in documentary filming in Sri Lanka. The duo had shown it to
the then Prime Minister D. S. Senanayake who set up the Government's
Film Unit. The GFU commenced operations in 1948.
According to Sisira, Rambles through Ceylon which was discovered from
the American embassy is the oldest documentary produced on Sri Lanka.
However, it was not a completed work. Then came Song of Ceylon.
New Horizon, Hill Capital are prominent works by Petroni. The
successor of this tradition was Ralph Keen who was a famous British
nature film producer. Power on the land, Winter Spring, Heritage of Sri
Lanka and Nelum Gama are among the documentaries Keen directed.
Fishermen of Negembo was co-directed by Ralph Keen and George
Wickremesinghe and depicted the beliefs and traditions of the
fishermen's life.
The gradual decline of the Government's Film Unit (GFU) that began in
1960-70 intensified with the establishment of the Sri Lanka Rupavahini
Corporation (SLRC) in 1982. The threat posed by feature films adversely
affected the GFU. Low cost of production and availability of technology
in television contributed to this situation.
The objective of documentary film in a developing country should be
to focus attention on economic, social and cultural activities. The
Government Film Division of India is an example of how documentary films
have been successfully used in the development process. The film
Division has produced a number of documentaries covering health,
education and culture under the guidance of internationally acclaimed
directors such as Sathyajith Ray.
Sisira attributes the present deplorable condition of the documentary
film to bureaucratism and officialdom that have little or no knowledge
of documentary films. Sisira is of the view that this unique form of art
should be fostered not only using the medium of Television but also the
film.
Though the Government Film Unit and the Sri Lanka Rupavahini
Corporation has some of our masterpieces, it is doubtful whether these
masterpieces will be preserved as the public trust on these institutions
wanes.
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