Vimukthi Jayasundara
Encyclopedia
Vimukthi Jayasundara is an award winning Sri Lanka
n film director
.
, Sri Lanka
. He was educated at Mahinda College
, Galle
. Vimukthi began his cinematic career as a journalist
, film critic and screenwriter
. He attended the Institute for Film and Television in Pune, India. He returned to Sri Lanka and was employed at the Lowe Lintas Worldwide ad agency as a copywriter for three years.
His 1st film, The Land Of Silence, a documentary in black and white about the victims of civil war was selected by several festivals including Marseilles, Rotterdam
and Berlin
. The film made with cinematographic equipment from the 1960s and interspersed with occasional dialogues deliberately not translated but relayed by a background commentary, the film transforms images of the present into ghostly archives. It refuses to intensify the horror by making it appear close at hand, and denounces the alliance between technological virtuosity and fascination with war. Rather, it has faith in “history as a source of knowledge” to counteract silence.
’Vimukthi Jayasundara enrolled as a post-graduate at Le Fresnoy-Studio National des Arts. Following his time at Fresnoy, he directed a short film Empty for Love –was shot in France and Sri Lanka. the film was Produced by Lefresnoy. this film was officially selected to the Cannes film festival in 2003 and it won the Best Director Award at the Novo Mesto International Short Film festival – Slovenia in 2003 at the same year he became a resident at the Cinéfondation
of the Cannes Film Festival
.
-Sulanga Enu Pinisa]]. It won the 2005 Cannes Film Festival
Camera d'Or
. He was the first Sri Lankan to win the prestigious award. The film is minimalist, constructed with sparse dialogue and a haunting tableaux of an isolated desolate rural landscape. The film is considered by many international critics to be one of the most important cinematic statements to emerge from Asia in the last ten years. this film won the Jury Prize at the New Delhi Osian’s-Cinefan international Film Festival in India, 2005 and also won Golden Harvest for the Best Film at the Bangkok world Film festival in Thailand, 2006. The Forsaken Land was co-produced by Unlimited, Les Films de l'Etranger, Onoma and Arte France Cinema, in association with Film Council Productions (Sri Lanka) - with Philippe Avril as executive producer. The Forsaken Land was released in France by Tadrart Films (French title: La terre abandonnée) and in United States by New Yorker. The film is available on DVD in America and France (MK2 vidéo) as well.h
Jayasundara s 3rd feature Chatrack continues to explore South Asian psyches contorted by massive social forces, but this time he makes a significant leap north. This is his first film set in India.
Rahul (Sudip Mukherjee) is a Bengali architect returning to Kolkata after years of work in Dubai, where he managed a huge construction site. Awaiting him is his beautiful girlfriend Paoli (Paoli Dam), who lives alone and far from her family. But Rahul’s seemingly successful life is overshadowed by the search for his brother (Sumeet Thakur), said to now be mad and living in the forest, where he sleeps in the trees. Despite appearances, the two brothers may have much in common.
Part surreal song of nature, part muffled cry of urban despair, Mushrooms hovers like a dream. Jayasundara blends minimalist aesthetics with a thoughtful, melancholy tone to evoke his characters’ alienation from their surroundings. In the city, constant construction reflects the social convulsions taking place. In the woods, the arrival of a European soldier manifests the feeling of a natural environment unsettled and compromised by violent order.
Jayasundara’s films can never be entirely defined by their plots. Encouraging each viewer to meet him partway, he crafts his narratives as a series of questions and his characters as open forms. Working outside his home country for the first time, and aided by the capable Sri Lankan cinematographer Channa Deshapriya, this unique filmmaker has brought a fascinating visitor’s eye to contemporary West Bengal. (Cameron Bailey , Co-Director, Toronto International film Festival)
His work speaks from the borders: those that separate a country from another, modern cities from ancestral land, and the threshold between the living and the dead. And from there, it erases the borders between fiction and documentary, between cinema and visual arts, expanding the very limits of filmmaking, generating hypnotic visions, pictures of great plastic beauty, and situations that go from the surreal to the humoristic.
the most important film event in Chile, Valdivia International Film Festival is the first film festival to program A retrospective of films by Vimukthi Jayasundara.
Land Of silence(short)-2002
Empty for Love(short)-2003
The Forsaken Land-2005
Between Two Worlds-2009
Mushrooms- 2011
Through the Windshield-(in Preparation)
Memento international -world sales Company based in Paris announced that, as well as Between Two Worlds, their Label Artscope is now representing Vimukthi Jayasundara’s debut feature The Forsaken Land along with his two renowned shorts The Land Of Silence (2001) and Empty For Love (2003). and Mushrooms(2011) represented by Austrian Film distributor,eastwest-distribution.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
n film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
.
Early life
Vimukthi Jayasundara was born in RatnapuraRatnapura
- Floods :The town of Ratnapura is situated in the flooding plain of the river Kalu. The town experiences regular floods usually in the month of May. There is no large dam across the Kalu, so this leaves the city at the mercy of nature's forces every year. Several proposals have been made to reduce...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
. He was educated at Mahinda College
Mahinda College
Mahinda College is a Buddhist boys' school in Galle, Sri Lanka. It is a national school, which provides primary and secondary education. The school was established on March 1, 1892 by the Buddhist Theosophical Society led by Colonel Henry Steel Olcott...
, Galle
Galle
Galle is a city situated on the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, 119 km from Colombo. Galle is the capital city of Southern Province of Sri Lanka and it lies in Galle District....
. Vimukthi began his cinematic career as a journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, film critic and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
. He attended the Institute for Film and Television in Pune, India. He returned to Sri Lanka and was employed at the Lowe Lintas Worldwide ad agency as a copywriter for three years.
His 1st film, The Land Of Silence, a documentary in black and white about the victims of civil war was selected by several festivals including Marseilles, Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
and Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. The film made with cinematographic equipment from the 1960s and interspersed with occasional dialogues deliberately not translated but relayed by a background commentary, the film transforms images of the present into ghostly archives. It refuses to intensify the horror by making it appear close at hand, and denounces the alliance between technological virtuosity and fascination with war. Rather, it has faith in “history as a source of knowledge” to counteract silence.
’Vimukthi Jayasundara enrolled as a post-graduate at Le Fresnoy-Studio National des Arts. Following his time at Fresnoy, he directed a short film Empty for Love –was shot in France and Sri Lanka. the film was Produced by Lefresnoy. this film was officially selected to the Cannes film festival in 2003 and it won the Best Director Award at the Novo Mesto International Short Film festival – Slovenia in 2003 at the same year he became a resident at the Cinéfondation
Cinéfondation
La Cinéfondation is a foundation under the aegis of the Cannes Film Festival, created to inspire and support the next generation of international filmmakers....
of the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
.
The Forsaken Land
In 2005 he directed his first feature, The Forsaken LandThe Forsaken Land
The Forsaken Land is a 2005 Sri Lankan drama film directed by Vimukthi Jayasundara. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Caméra d'Or.-Cast:* Kaushalaya Fernando - Soma...
-Sulanga Enu Pinisa]]. It won the 2005 Cannes Film Festival
2005 Cannes Film Festival
The 2005 Cannes Film Festival started on May 11 and ran until May 22. Twenty movies from 13 countries were selected to compete. The awards were announced on May 21...
Camera d'Or
Caméra d'Or
The Caméra d'Or is an award of the Cannes Film Festival for the best first feature film presented in one of the Cannes' selections ....
. He was the first Sri Lankan to win the prestigious award. The film is minimalist, constructed with sparse dialogue and a haunting tableaux of an isolated desolate rural landscape. The film is considered by many international critics to be one of the most important cinematic statements to emerge from Asia in the last ten years. this film won the Jury Prize at the New Delhi Osian’s-Cinefan international Film Festival in India, 2005 and also won Golden Harvest for the Best Film at the Bangkok world Film festival in Thailand, 2006. The Forsaken Land was co-produced by Unlimited, Les Films de l'Etranger, Onoma and Arte France Cinema, in association with Film Council Productions (Sri Lanka) - with Philippe Avril as executive producer. The Forsaken Land was released in France by Tadrart Films (French title: La terre abandonnée) and in United States by New Yorker. The film is available on DVD in America and France (MK2 vidéo) as well.h
Between Two Worlds
AHASIN WETEIBetween Two Worlds, his second feature film, was produced by Les Films Hatari and Unlimited, co-produced by Arte France Cinéma and Film Council Productions and Anura Silva in Sri Lanka. The cast includes Chinese actress Huang Lu, Thusitha Laknath, Kaushalya Fernando and Steve de la Zilwa. Cinematography was by Channa Deshapriya, and original music was by Lakshman Joseph de Saram. This film was officially selected for the Competition at the 66 Venice International film festival in 2009 and was nominated for the prestigious Golden Lion. also it got nominated for Achievement in Directing at the Asia Pacific screen Awards -Australia in 2009 . at the Barcelona Asian film festival in Spain, 2010 this film won the Best Asian Film Award. Between Two Worlds was invited to more than 100 film festivals around the world.Mushroomes aka Chatrack
Directors fortnight- Cannes Film Festival 2011Jayasundara s 3rd feature Chatrack continues to explore South Asian psyches contorted by massive social forces, but this time he makes a significant leap north. This is his first film set in India.
Rahul (Sudip Mukherjee) is a Bengali architect returning to Kolkata after years of work in Dubai, where he managed a huge construction site. Awaiting him is his beautiful girlfriend Paoli (Paoli Dam), who lives alone and far from her family. But Rahul’s seemingly successful life is overshadowed by the search for his brother (Sumeet Thakur), said to now be mad and living in the forest, where he sleeps in the trees. Despite appearances, the two brothers may have much in common.
Part surreal song of nature, part muffled cry of urban despair, Mushrooms hovers like a dream. Jayasundara blends minimalist aesthetics with a thoughtful, melancholy tone to evoke his characters’ alienation from their surroundings. In the city, constant construction reflects the social convulsions taking place. In the woods, the arrival of a European soldier manifests the feeling of a natural environment unsettled and compromised by violent order.
Jayasundara’s films can never be entirely defined by their plots. Encouraging each viewer to meet him partway, he crafts his narratives as a series of questions and his characters as open forms. Working outside his home country for the first time, and aided by the capable Sri Lankan cinematographer Channa Deshapriya, this unique filmmaker has brought a fascinating visitor’s eye to contemporary West Bengal. (Cameron Bailey , Co-Director, Toronto International film Festival)
His work speaks from the borders: those that separate a country from another, modern cities from ancestral land, and the threshold between the living and the dead. And from there, it erases the borders between fiction and documentary, between cinema and visual arts, expanding the very limits of filmmaking, generating hypnotic visions, pictures of great plastic beauty, and situations that go from the surreal to the humoristic.
the most important film event in Chile, Valdivia International Film Festival is the first film festival to program A retrospective of films by Vimukthi Jayasundara.
filmographie
Thibiri Dela (short)-1996Land Of silence(short)-2002
Empty for Love(short)-2003
The Forsaken Land-2005
Between Two Worlds-2009
Mushrooms- 2011
Through the Windshield-(in Preparation)
Memento international -world sales Company based in Paris announced that, as well as Between Two Worlds, their Label Artscope is now representing Vimukthi Jayasundara’s debut feature The Forsaken Land along with his two renowned shorts The Land Of Silence (2001) and Empty For Love (2003). and Mushrooms(2011) represented by Austrian Film distributor,eastwest-distribution.