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Netherlands with love By Susitha R. Fernando To commemorate 400 years of bilateral relationship between Netherlands and Sri Lanka a 'Dutch Film Festival' with films on human relationships will hit the screen at the Elphinston theatre from 6 to 12 July. Speaking at
the press conference on the film festival, Netherlands Ambassador
Mrs. Susan Blankhart said "since June 2, 400 years ago the
date on which the Dutch set foot in Batticaloa there has been a
very special relationship between the two countries and there are
many things in common to the two countries such as law and even
certain words have been added to the Sinhala language". "The main
purpose of the festival is to know each other through films and
some of the latest released and quality Dutch films are to be screened
from July 6 to 12", she said. Featuring the
intricacies of humanity, life, friendship and love the films "The
Discovery of heaven", "I Love you too", "Baby
Blue", "With Great joy", The Friendship", "The
Cave" and "The Leak" will be screened daily at 6.
30 pm. 'The Discovery
of Heaven' (134 minutes) a film by Jeroen Krabbe is woven around
two men Onno Quist (Stephen Fry) and Max Delius (Greg Wise) who
meet each other see it as a work of an Angel, who is assigned to
carry out the task of returning the ten Commandments to Heaven when
God finally gives up on humanity and has decided to break his covenant
with them. The two become best of friends until they encounter by
chance they believe a beautiful young woman, Ada Brons (Flora Montgomery).
'I Love you
too' (97 minutes) a film released last year and directed by Ruud
van Hemert is a story, told in flashback of a virtuous young law
student whose eyes are opened to real life when he is seduced by
a ravishingly beautiful girl. Her behaviour is governed by primitive
urges and she tries to posses men using sex as her weapon, eventually
destroying the love for which she is desperately searching for.
'Baby Blue'
a film by Theo van Gogh revolves round a relationship between Peter,
an insurance agent in his mid-thirties and Laura a beautiful, sophisticated
and witty wife of his new neighbour. Peter and his young wife Marian
an airline stewardess become rather well acquainted with their new
English neighbours, the elderly Ron and his considerably younger
spouse Laura. 'With Great
joy' (90 minutes) by Lodewijk Crijns starring Jaap Spijkers, Renee
Soutendijk, Jack Wouterse. By coincidence a friend of Luc discovers
the whereabouts of Luc's brother, who disappeared 15 years ago and
has since been living a secluded life with his wife for mysterious
reasons. 'Friendship'
(117 minutes) by director and script writer Nouchka van Brakel is
about the friendship between two men who have not seen each another
for forty years. A great deal of what has happened in the meantime
when Pieter Paternoster and Gijs van der Zee (alias Antony Seawell)
meet up again at the cemetery where Anne, Pieter's wife, is buried.
In the Dutch
theatrical feature 'The Cave' (90 min.) Egon Wagter a 43-year-old
geologist, goes through the most desolate and frightening day of
his life. In a police state in Southeast-Asia, he is waiting in
a car park to make a transaction with a stranger who can give him
the right password. The first film 'The Discovery of Heaven' will be in English and the rest will be in Dutch with English subtitles. Three
kids on mission of adventure
At
the State Literary Awards in 1999, 'Somapura Weerayo' was voted
the best novel of the year. This has been adapted to the small screen
by Samson Kumarage. Ajith and Sunil
are schooling at a college in Colombo and decide to spend their
vacation at their colleague Ruwan's house in Polonnaruwa. Ruwan
takes the two friends from the station and are warmly welcomed by
his family members. While they are
enjoying their long awaited holidays in the historical city they
come to know that one of their teachers who taught them in primary
classes had gone missing while he was doing some excavation at a
historical site near the 'Somawathi Chaithya'. The teacher, Mr.
Keerthy who loved archaeological studies was collecting information
and wrote of them to newspapers with the aim of protecting them
from being vandalized. He had lost both parents while he was a child
and his younger brother Jayantha was the only relation he had.
Having
decided to investigate the mysterious disappearance of their much
loved teacher, the three friends collect details from the school
he was teaching at and from his boarding. Meanwhile Keerthy's brother
Jayantha who heard about his brother's disappearance comes to Polonnaruwa
and joins the team which had already started on the mission. The journey
which was a secret was not as easy as the young men thought it to
be and the team had to spend several days in the thick jungle despite
the threat of dangerous attacks from wild animals. However they
manage to reach the historical site by which Keerthy had last been
seen. After a close inspection of the area the friends are able
to find the pen used by Keerthy. Investigating further the team
comes across some treasure hunters who are digging around another
site of a decayed Chaiythya. Later the friends
come to know that Keerthy was captive of the treasure hunters and
by harassing the captive the looters were able to get vital information
of the historical site. Being unable to bear torture applied on
the brother Jayantha cries aloud which changes all their plans. Unexpected
intrusion into their activities make the murderous treasure hunters
to begin chasing after the four followed by shooting. The group
who narrowly escape the robbers realise that they cannot fight the
armed robbers with bare hands and return to the town. They decide
to inform the police and seek aid to free Keerthy. By the time the
friends return after a few days the location where Keerthy was being
held had undergone several changes. The mission
becomes harder for the team as they have to rescue both the brothers
who are held by the robbers now. Would the destiny
of three school friends be similar to that of Jayantha and Keerthy
or would the 'Somapura Weerayo' be able to make a success of their
mission? The cast with
a number of new young faces include Chathura Kumarage, Mathisha
De Silva, Lahiru Kumarage, Sameera Dissanayake, Nimal Pallawatta,
Rebeka Nirmali and Sanet Dikkumbura. Gayantha Sampath edited the mini-play which was filmed by Kithsiri Hewage. Bicentennial
Man at MC A Colombia
Pictures movie presented by Cinema Entertainment Limited (CEL) follows
the life and times of Andrew, a robot purchased as a household appliance
programmed to perform menial tasks. As Andrew begins
to experience emotions and creative thought, the Martin family soon
discovers they don't have an ordinary robot. The word "robot"
itself is a creation of the 20h century and comes from the Czech
word Robota, meaning forced labour. The term was first used in a
1920s play by Karl Capek called "R.U.R." (Rossums Universal
Robots). The play dealt with robots created to free humans from
the burden of labour but who eventually turn on and try to destroy
their human creators because of their desire for freedom. But 'Bicentennial
Man' based on the short story of Isaac Asimov who wrote of robots
in a positive sense and the movie depicts a robot which learns all
about the intricacies of humanity, life and love. In the first decade
of the new millennium, with advances in global technology overtaking
the sovereignty of human compassion, Richard Martin (Sam Neill)
buys a gift, a new NDR-114 robot. The product is named Andrew (Robin
William) by the youngest of the family's children. Box office record film "Spider Man" will be followed by the "Bicentennial Man" at the MC Ariyaratne
comes out again Credited for
having directed many films among which are 'Anupama', 'Sarungale',
'Siribo Aiyya', 'Podi Malli', 'Vajira', 'Jeevithayen Jeevithayak'
and 'Kristhu Charithaya' Prof. Ariyaratne after a long period of
hybernation has with "Sudu Sewaneli" a story based on
a novel written by Piyadasa Welikannage, once more begun to dabble
with this art form. Look for TV Times next week for more details on 'Sudu Sevaneli' |
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