All that’s art!
View(s):Colombo Scope kicks off at the end of this week with the announcement of the Gratiaen Prize shortlist. Over the next two days, the festival will offer up a smorgasbord of the arts with film screenings, book launches, art exhibitions, literary events and conversations. Don’t miss the plethora of free events. Here’s a look at the programme.
Friday, March 22
Venue: Park Street Mews, Chequerboard
- 6 p.m. – 6:15 p.m. Festival Opening: Incredibly short speeches by Festival sponsors: Anirvan Ghosh Dastidar (CEO, Standard Chartered Bank), Bjoern Ketels (Director, Goethe Institut) Ashok Ferrey (Festival Curator), Tony Reilly (Country Director, British Council) Free Event
- 6.15 p.m. – 7.30 p.m. Announcement of Gratiaen Prize Shortlist for 2012 with Judges’ comments, self-introductions by short-listed authors and readings. Compèred by Nafeesa K Amiruddeen.
Saturday, March 23
Venue: Park Street Mews, Chequerboard
- 9. a.m. – 9.40 a.m. The Kaduwa: does English serve to unite or divide? English-Singlish-Tinglish – how far should we go with the indigenisation of the language? Sumathy Sivamohan, Shermal Wijewardene and Malinda Seneviratne air their views. Moderator Shyamalee Tudawe.
- Free Event
- 10 a.m. – 10.40 a.m. Anjali Joseph in conversation with Tony Reilly. The prize-winning author of Saraswati Park and Another Country talks to the Country Director of the British Council about her writing life.
- 11 a.m. – 11.40 a.m. My Life in Robes. Two men and a woman in robes – a Christian priest, a Buddhist monk and a Muslim lady – talk about what those robes mean to them: how they serve to define their identity and how they change the way others perceive them. Moderator Jill Macdonald.
- 12.45 p.m. – 1.30 p.m. Lunchtime Concert: Concertmaster Lakshman Joseph de Saram and the Chamber Music Society of Colombo perform Mozart Divertimento K. 522
Floating Space presents ‘Absences’ with Jake Orloff, Tracy Jayasinghe and Ruhanie Perera
- 12.15 p.m. – 1.45 p.m. Gourmet lunch with Carolin Emcke
- 2. p.m. – 2.40 p.m. Songs from Across the Water. Four poets: Three of Sri Lanka’s finest – Holocaust poet Anne Ranasinghe, Ramya Jirasinghe and Vivimarie Vanderpoorten – and T.S.Eliot Prize nominee Sean Borodale, on expressing identity and alienation through their work.
- 3. p.m. – 3.40 p.m. Flying on the other Wing: Minoli Ratnayake talks to Carolin Emcke, Rosanna Flamer-Caldera and Koluu about sexual identity, and living the alternative lifestyle in modern-day Sri Lanka; and to film-maker Asoka Handagama about the portrayal of it on film.
- 4. p.m. onwards: Book launches, readings. Free Event
- 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Screening of Asoka Handagama’s Flying with One Wing, followed by Q&A with the director. Curated by Anoma Rajakaruna. Free Event
- 6.15 p.m. – 6.30 p.m. Dance Recital: (Brick Studio) Martha Graham – The Resurrection by Seneka Abeyratne. Free Event
- 7 p.m. – 7.45 p.m. Dance Recital: (Brick Studio) ‘Oneness’: a performance by nATANDA Dance Theatre, choreography by Kapila Palihawadana. Free Event
- 8 p.m. – 9.30 p.m. Gourmet dinner with Kaveri Lalchand
- 9:30pm – 11:30 p.m: Rock Concert featuring Out of Time. Free Event
Sunday, March 24
Venue: Chequerboard
- 9.30 a.m. – 10:10 a.m. Fifty Shades of Gratiaen: Former Gratiaen judge and nominee Neluka Silva talks to last year’s winner Madhubhashini Disanayaka Ratnayaka and this year’s short-listed hopefuls: about Sri Lanka’s top literary prize for English writing, and what a win might mean to their writing career. Free Event
- 10.30 a.m. – 11.10 a.m. Sean Borodale in conversation with Smriti Daniel. T. S. Eliot Prize nominee, poet Sean Borodale talks about his first collection of poetry Bee Journal, whose genesis was in a working journal kept over two years, when the author took up beekeeping for the first time. The poems chronicle the life and work of the bees, sketching a relationship between keeper and kept, exploring paradoxes and moments of revelation.
- 11.30 a.m. – 12.10 p.m. Who Counted the Bodies?
Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya of the Sri Lankan Army and Rajiva Wijesinha, in conversation with war reporters Carolin Emcke and Julian West, about the problems of war reportage: Who exactly assigns the numbers in an environment where facts and figures can be massaged equally vigorously by both sides? Moderated by Savithri Rodrigo.
- 12.15 p.m. – 1.45 p.m. Gourmet lunch with Sean Borodale
- 1 p.m. – 1.40 p.m Eshantha Peiris in Concert. One of Sri Lanka’s most gifted pianists, with his own selection.
- 2 p.m. – 2.40 p.m. In the Driving Seat. Three very different women writers – Anjali Joseph (Saraswati Park, Another Country), Sharmila Kantha (Just the Facts, Madam-ji, A Break in the Circle) and Yasmine Gooneratne (The Sweet and Simple Kind) – talk about what exactly drives their work. Is it plot, character or genre? Or is it just plain good writing? Moderated by Mrinali Thalgodapitiya
- 3 p.m. – 4 p.m. Kaveri Lalchand tells tall tales, weaves stories and spins yarns with a dramatized performance of writing from there and here.
- 4 p.m. – 4. 45 p.m. Children’s Book Launch Party: Ryan to the Moon – An adventure packed journey of a young boy, trying to save his parents from an evil dragon. Written by Eranda Ginige, illustrated by Ruwangi Amarasinghe. A fun-filled party with animated storytelling, activities for kids, gifts, prizes and surprises. Free Event
- 5 p.m. – 5.45 p.m. Book launch: Thus, She Grew by M.T.L. Ebell and Algy. M.T. L. Ebell’s first book “Short & Verse” published in 2007 won the award for Best English short stories at the State Literary Awards 2008. In “Thus, She Grew”, a biographical novel, the author researches her father’s diaries to discover her mother’s passage to maturity from her childhood in Galle in the early 20th Century through Colombo to England and Scotland, including a fraught return voyage to Ceylon in September 1939 when England and Germany were at war. “Thus, She Grew” – is a view of 25 years in the life of Mignon Dissanaike Perera by M.T.L. Ebell (and Algy). Free Event
- 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Screening of Prasanna Vithanage’s August Sun, followed by Q&A with the director. Curated by Anoma Rajakaruna. Free Event
- 7 p.m. – 7.45 p.m. Dance Recital: Absence, by Floating Space Theatre Company (Ruhanie Perera, Jake Orloff, Iromi Perera). A theatrical experiment with installation that confronts the voice of a woman and the experience of being displaced.
(Playing time 40mins followed by post-show discussion). Free Event
- 8 p.m. – 10 p.m. Street Bands and food carts. Free Event
- 8 p.m. – 9.30 p.m. Gourmet dinner with Anjali Joseph
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