[Movie]
Charmini's Cannes debut
Charmini Peli Kankanamalage is terrified she stole something from her
child.
It's something intrinsic to every Sri Lankan, she says, but something
most parents would never want for their children: war. That guilt and
turmoil is the root of her new 15-minute docudrama called M'al d'archive
that will premiere at the prestigious Cannes International Film Festival
next month
"If
he doesn't know these experiences of suffering, then he won't be a true
Sri Lankan," said Kankanamalage, a PhD student at McMaster University in
Canada. "To be a Sri Lankan is the war - because it has taken such a lot
from our lives."
"I think it is very important that I tell my son this where you come
from, this is how it was when you were born, this is where you were born
and this is how we lived."
Kankanamalage, a 32-year-old French master's student, created the
film to act as her thesis. This way, she could dissect her thoughts on
leaving Sri Lanka, which was gripped by a bloody civil war for decades.
The thought that her now two-year-old son won't know or connect with his
homeland heavily weighs on her. One of the most poignant lines in the
film is this message to her son: "You do not belong anywhere, like me,
like your father. We are wanderers. Free."The film isn't up for an
award, but is being shown in the Cannes Short Film Corner, where
fledgling filmmakers debut their work in front of a live audience.
Though the festival carries an obvious cache, M'al d'archive was
filmed in a true guerilla filmmaking fashion. Her husband Kalinga
Vithanage (who is a filmmaker in his own right) acted as the director of
photography.He calls it a "zero budget project" that was shot in two
months, using a Canon 6D to shoot, whatever light was available, and an
iPod to record the voiceover. Most everything was shot in their Hamilton
home, once their toddler son fell asleep.
The birth footage in the film is their son's actual birth, which
Vithanage shot.
If nothing else, this film will act as an archive for her son, and a
way for him to start exploring his roots when he's older.
"I just want him to have the essence of his roots."
The Cannes International Film Festival begins May 13.
- CBC News |