TV Times

TV Times

Honolulu honours ‘Bora Diya Pokuna’
By Susitha R. Fernando
Young director Satyajit Maitipe’s debut, “Bora Diya Pokuna” (Scent of the Lotus Pond) was awarded the special prize for the Best Fiction Film at the recently concluded Honolulu International Film festival, 2005 in Hawaii, United states of America.

Maitipe’s film won this award out of twenty-two other films forwarded from various parts of the world.“Bora Diya Pokuna” previously won the “Tiger Award’s nomination” for the most promising new directors of- 2004 at the Rotterdam International film festival, in The Netherlands.

In 2004 the prestigious Smithsonian institute of USA selected Bora Diya Pokuna for their Discoveries- 2004 Programme as one of the six most exciting, entertaining and original films from Asia.

Produced by the National Film Corporation-Sri Lanka under the project that gave financial aid to amateur film directors, Bora Diya Pokuna deals with a rectangular love in an urban setting where the youth who work in the garment industry and those who serve in the forces meet. The life style that sets a cultural, spiritual revelation is the theme.

Main roles in Bora Diya Pokuna are played by Kaushalya Fernando, Dilani Abeywardena, Dhaminda De Silva, Irangani Serasinghe, Dharmasiri Bandaranayake and Veena Jayakody.

The Jury of the Honolulu International Film festival also awarded the under categories: Screenplay, direction, actor and actress performances, art, photography, editing, and integral realization. In addition to the prizes by category; the Jury granted the Special Prize to the Best Documentary Film and the Special Prize to the Best Fiction Film which was won by the Sri Lankan film director, Maitipe this year.

Among the other awards at the Honolulu Film Festival; the Best Performance by an actor was won by Malayalam actor Thampy Anthony in “Beyond the Soul”, an America-Kerala co-production directed by Rajive Anchal. “Beyond the Soul” bagged all the top awards (Best film, Direction& Screenplay) at the 2003 New York Independent film festival. The Best performance by an actress was won by Lilly Li in “Sandstorm “, a Canadian Film directed by Michael Mahonan. This film made in Chinese language was based on the suppression of the student uprising in China.

Jay Weisberg of The Variety international film magazine described Bora Diya Pokuna as a film with “Surprisingly explicit content and complex protagonists “. “Bora Diya Pokuna” represented Sri Lanka at Vancouver (Canada), Seattle (USA) and Brisbane (Australia) International Film festivals and was hailed by the western critics as “At once a modern-day Buddhist parable, a deliciously juicy melodrama and an astonishingly frank depiction of sexual obsession “.

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