Sankara wins further acclaim

Prasanna Jayakody's internationally acclaimed debut 'Sankara' received yet another acclaim when it was screened at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. Camera director Palitha Perera in Sankara is being nominated for the final five and the awards ceremony is to be held on the Gold Coast, Australia on November 13.

Among others for the said award are Yu Wang for THE GO MASTER (WU QINGYUAN) (China), Trofimov R G C Sergey for MONGOL (Russian Federation), Zhao Fei, Mark Ping-bin Lee and Yang Tao for THE SUN ALSO RISES (China) and Hooman Behmanesh for THOSE THREE (AN SEH) (Iran). The film will be judged by a distinguished International Jury headed by Indian actress and humanitarian activist, Shabana Azmi.

The finalists are drawn from all over the Asia-Pacific region with 34 films nominated from 19 countries: Armenia, Australia, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kurdistan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Sri Lanka and Turkey.

The Asia Pacific Screen Awards is a collaboration between CNN International, UNESCO and FIAPF- the International Federation of Film Producers Associations. The Awards honour the works of filmmakers across a region covering more than 70 countries, one third of the earth and half the world's film output. Earlier the film was also highly appreciated by the both Sri Lankan and foreign audiences when it was screened at the London Film Festival recently.

Sankara also won the Special Jury Prize 'The Silver Pyramid', the best awardgiven to a film director at the 30th Cairo International Film Festival last December. Produced by Renuka Balasooriya and Somarathna Dissanayaka, Sankara revolves around a Buddhist theme narrating a tale of a young Buddhist monk who is trapped in a web of his worldly desires and attachments.It stars Thumindhu Dodantenna, Sanchiri Ayendra, Nilupa Heenkendaarachchi and K. A . Milton Perera.