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Boodee
and his Mille Soya trip During the course of this journey the group portrayed here were subject to deceptions by the intermediaries, betrayals by their own friends, arrests while crossing the borders illegally in addition to meeting death inside baggage compartment of buses and in snow stroms. The young film director Boodee Keerthisena had to undergo a hard experience which was similar to the group he portrayed in his film to complete production. It took him nearly eleven years to complete the film. The challenges before Boodee were numerous; and most important among them were to do an international film with suitable technical standard with a limited budget. Having completed his first feature film, Sihina Deshayen (Veils of Maya) Boodee’s second attempt was on a quite a different and novel theme- the real story of illegal immigrants. The film is about a group of young Sri Lankan musicians illegally migrating to Italy in a baggage compartment of a bus and the film speaks about lost dreams of the Sri Lankan youth that are caught between a civil war and corrupt politics through their journey to reach the land of hope. The initial idea about “Milla Soya” came in early 1990s at the time when Boodee was studying at School of Visual Arts in New York. “While I was in New York and when each time I came home I found more and more of my friends missing. They had taken the risk and gone to Europe and many of them illegally to Italy”, Boodee spoke reminiscently. And this innovative filmmaker also could hear the grim stories of housemaids who worked in oil rich lands to ensure better lives for their families and whom he met during his transits in the Middle East countries journeying to New York. And it was these experiences that were the first seeds for ‘Milla Soya’ and he also was inspired by his own village family and friends from Marawila and Katuneriya the villages in Western coast where most of the youngsters were dreaming of making a journey to rich Europe. With all these experiences Boodee started to write the story and there were few others who came to join with him in writing. But none of them turned up. He was left to complete the task. The biggest obstacle next was to find the funds. Even Boodee was at a loss as to what exactly it would cost him. But it was his father, Boddhi Keerthisena, the producer of the film who came to his aid and encouraged him to proceed with the project. Preserving the technical quality was far more important for this enthusiastic filmmaker and this time it was his colleagues who studied with him at the School of Visual Arts in America came forward to making his film a universal production. His friends in the independent filmmaking sector of America and Europe and other parts of the world joined him to complete his film working only for expenses. Among them were the cinematographer, Moshe Ben Yaish, an American Institute graduate, the assistant cameraman Cyril Thomas, a French born New Yorker who assisted Deepa Mehta in her controversial film ‘Fire’ and some other technicians from Berlin and Poland and many other personal friends like the composer Luxman Joseph de Saram in Sri Lanka. And finally Boodee managed to complete the project with Rs 10 million which otherwise could have cost him two to four million US$. While directing the film this young filmmaker had to engage in the cost cutting project specially in Italy where he shot a major part of the film. For this he set out a plan by introducing this film as a project done by a student filmmaker. And this helped him to get permission easily and limit the expenses he would have had to meet in shooting a film in a foreign country. Having completed the formalities he had to face protests before shooting began from certain Sri Lankans in Italy who had no idea about the film and its main theme. But later the same people who objected to the production had come forward to support him. In addition the whole team suffered the freezing cold in Naples, Italy. He had to face mafia threats, once to escape he had to cough out money. And after these all hard work and heartaches and eleven years of different experiences, Boodee has completed his film and it is ready for the release. Milla Soya will be screened at Cinecity Colombo and other EAP circuit cinemas from October 21. The Mille Soya cast comprises Mahendra Perera, Sangeetha Weeraratne, Dilhani Ekanayake, Ravindra Randeniya, Linton Semage, Sanath Gunathilake, Roger Seneviratne, Kamal Addararachchi, Victor Ramanayake, Anthony Surendra, Veena Jayakody, W. Jayasiri, Pradeep Hettiarachchi and Nadee Kammalweera. Technical
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