The Forsaken Land / Sulanga enu pinisa
France | Sri Lanka , 2005.

Directed by: Vimukthi Jayasundara
Script: Vimukthi Jayasundara
Producer: Philippe Avril, Francisco Villa-Lobos
Cinematography: Channa Deshapriya
Editing: Gisèle Rapp-Meichler
Music: Nadeeka Guruge
Cast: Mahendra Perera, Kaushalya Fernando, Nilupili Jayawardena, Hemasiri Liyanage, Saumya Liyanage

Format: 35mm
Running time: 108'

Synopsis
Forsaken Land sidesteps battle scenes and rallying cries to seek out a language for what war feels like on a personal scale. And not just any war - this is Sri Lanka's twenty-two-year-long civil war between the Sinhala government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. When conflict lasts this long, the stories that emerge change, and so must the storytelling. One of the first images in the film is of a dead arm jutting up from a river, the hand frozen in half-grasp. What follows is a procession of similarly structured images, each one distilling the daily experience of war down to simple essentials: cruelty, despair, numbness and, above all, absurdity. The events of 'The Forsaken Land' exist in a twilight between war and truce, allowing for moments of reflection and surprising eruptions of erotic desire. Death, sex and waiting - this is the picture of paradise at war. / Cameron Bailey
* This film has no english subtitles. spoken language is local language on Sri Lanka.

Awards
The film was awarded the prestigious Caméra d'Or at the Cannes Fim Festival in 2005.

Directors Biography
Vimukthi Jayasundara was born in Ratnapura on Sri Lanka. He studied at Institute of Film and Television in Pune, India. This is his first feature film. He has made the documentary 'The Land of Silence' (2001) and the short film 'Empty for Love (2002).

Location and screening schedule: Cinema SC, Tuesday, October 18th at 20