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| Sunday, 7 August 2005 |
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Features |  |
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Vimukthi Jayasundara : Success unmatched
Vimukthi Jayasundara's first feature film Sulanga Enu Pinisa - La Teree Abondonce (Forsaken Land) won the Camera d'Or for the Best First Film at the 58th edition of the Cannes International Film Festival. Last week he bagged a Jury Award at the prestigious Asian Film Festival in New Delhi, India. At the film festival Sulanga Enu Pinisa competed with more than 25 films from Asia. by Chamitha Kuruppu Vimukthi Jayasundara's first feature film Sulanga Enu Pinisa - La Teree Abondonce (Forsaken Land) won the Camera d'Or for the Best First Film at the 58th edition of the Cannes International Film Festival. Last week he bagged a Jury Award at the prestigious Asian Film Festival in New Delhi, India. At the film festival Sulanga Enu Pinisa competed with more than 25 films from Asia. Young Vimukthi was fascinated by the sound of the violin. With a desire to master this exceptional musical instrument, he began violin lessons. But, more than learning what he cherished most the desire to enhance his knowledge on the technique of playing the violin. Having failed to master it, disappointed Vimukthi finally decided to give up his long lost yearning of being a violinist. Vimukthi Jayasundara did not stop there. He tried his hand at painting and dancing as well. Although this lad's desire was to learn something and be self-satisfied, all his attempts failed. Finally his love for cinema made him study the subject in depth which has today brought him immense success and a name for himself locally as well as internationally.
Born and bred in Galle, Vimukthi came to Colombo and began writing film reviews for newspapers and also joined the advertising field. This lad spent most of his weekends at the Russian Cultural Centre, British Council and the Alliance Francaise, attempting to grasp the international cinematic scene too. But, not in his wildest dreams did Vimukthi think that within a couple of years he would be the youngest Sri Lankan film maker to have made it to the prestigious premier international film festival at Cannes. Vimukthi Jayasundara's first feature film Sulanga Enu Pinisa - La Teree Abondonce (Forsaken Land) won the Camera d'Or for the Best First Film at the 58th edition of the Cannes International Film Festival. Last week he bagged a Jury Award at the prestigious Asian Film Festival in New Delhi, India. At the film festival Sulanga Enu Pinisa competed with more than 25 films from Asia. Busy Vimukthi, preparing to screen his award winning feature film in September, spoke to Sunday Observer about his career, in international cinema and the local film industry. Awaking his memories, Vimukthi says that his desire for cinema made him study and master this vast field of art in India for over four years. "There were no places in Sri Lanka to do cinematology, so I was compelled to go to India. The most pathetic situation is that even after five years, Sri Lanka does not have a proper institution to do cinematology," notes Vimukthi. On his return to Sri Lanka (1998-99), Vimukthi directed a short film in black and white which was a documentary, with the assistance of the Government Film Unit. The film was screened at a film festival in France and after seeing it, the Head of the Le Fresnog School (National Studio of Contemporary Arts) provided an opportunity for Vimukthi to study the subject further in France. The doors for creating Sulanga Enu Pinisa was opened to Vimukthi after his short film, Empty of Love which was selected to the Cannes Festival (2002) from the Students category. That film did not contain any dialogue but only sound, and was shot in two countries, Sri Lanka and France. This young film maker was able to make this film within a few months of leaving the film school which was subsequently selected for the Cannes Festival. Vimukthi received the 'Fonds Sud Cinema' grant from the French Government for this first feature film project, Sulanga enu Pinisa. "I failed in painting, dancing and music because there were many hard rules. But, in cinema there is no such thing. You cannot plan cinema nor can you correct cinema," stressed Vimukthi, adding "Cinema is more than Hollywood and Bollywood films. These films do not need a producer. A mere, script writer and a technical crew can handle the film alone. But that is not what I wanted to do". Vimukthi, a huge Satyajit Ray fan says, he has watched Ray's Pathar Panchali for over 500 times. "Other than Ray's films, I adore Russian and Soviet Union films, especially war movies". He believes that although Sri Lanka is blessed with talented artistes, there is a need for skilful producers. "A producer should be an unknown driver who could ask his passengers to have faith in him and let the passengers make him take them anywhere in safe hands," emphasised the young film maker. "In Sri Lanka, the producers try to become actors. They try to teach the artistes what they have to perform. This is why most actors in Sri Lanka think they can be producers," chuckles Vimukthi. He pointed out that rather than encouraging the producers and making stereotype films, the country should take steps to develop the local film industry to be on par with international cinema. Vimukthi believes that Ashoka Handagama, Prasanna Withanage and several others have done quite a lot of interesting work. Vimukthi says that he admires Mahagama Sekera and Lester James Peries for their achievement in cinema. Winning the awards has labelled Vimukthi as an internationally acclaimed producer. Will this not permit this young film producer to make any mistakes in future? "Winning international awards for the maiden feature film is a risk. But making films itself is a mistake. I look forward to take up the challenge. On the other hand the style I have used will be a total new experience for Sri Lankan audience, my international awards will not guarantee that the local audience will accept my film, that is the biggest challenge I have," notes Vimukthi with dreams of setting up a different style of cinema in Sri Lanka. Vimukthi belongs to the set of directors who talk in a cinematic language. His maiden feature film Sulanga Enu Pinisa is a creation that you won't forget and will really want to talk about and discuss. |
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