A bold feminine touch to Lankan filmmaking
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Ajantha
Young filmmaker Ajantha Wijewardena’s third short film “Ehema Nowunu Ehema Denneak” was presented with the Best Short Film award at the recently held “3rd Sri Lanka Youth Cinematic Harvest – Documentary and Short Film Festival (2013/2014)” organized by the National Youth Services Council, Maharagama.
Ajantha’s two directions “Ehema Nowunu Ehema Denneak” and “Millionaire” were among the 10 final films out of 16 short films that were screened during the film festival. The selection was out of many submissions. While “Ehema Nowunu Ehema Denneak” was selected as the Best Film, “Millionaire” received a Merit Award.
“Ehema Nowunu Ehema Denneak” revolves around Sara, a 24 year-old unmarried and outgoing girl. In a society where love and marriage are interpreted with culture and tradition, Sara has a completely different perspective. She has undergone a very unorthodox transformation, inside and out.
Dhanuka, a 32 year old man falls in love with Sara on the first day they meet each other. But gradually she comes to know that Dhanuka carries burdens and responsibilities of an existing marriage. Dhanuka being uncontented and displeased with his marriage finds himself in a more complexed situation after he meets Sara. He starts to feel that his marriage is an impediment, and longs to change it, but is confronted with a dilemma; unable to break away from his bond with his family and stop meeting Sara.
In her short instinct as a filmmaker Ajantha has excelled in her chosen field winning a number of awards here and abroad. Her first short film ‘Transition’ in 2012 came to final rounds of the Italian Sri Lankan Film Festival (2012), her second film ‘Millionaire’ (2013) became the winner of Dr. Tissa Abeysekara “Sameepa Rupa” Short Film Festival (2013) and nominated for the Best Film, Agenda14 Short Film Festival (2013) and Best Short Film, Lanka Live Film Awards (2014). In addition it was the official selection for the COINS Film Festival (2014), Chennai Women’s International Film Festival (2014), and European Film Festival (2014).
“Ehema Nowunu Ehema Denneak” won the Merit Award at Dr. Tissa Abeysekara “Sameepa Rupa” Short Film Festival (2013) and it was the official selection for Colombo International Film Festival (2014) and Agenda 14: Women’s Day Discussion (2014).
She also has done two other films ‘Beneath Two Ends’ [2014] and her latest ‘Like Ekak Daamuda’ [2015] –a documentary on Religion based ‘Face Book’ Hate Speech is in production.
“There are a lot of sacrifices to be done if you want to be a filmmaker and the task is much harder when you are a woman filmmaker,” said Ajantha speaking about her career as a filmmaker. Asked about shortage of women filmmakers in the industry she says that women filmmakers would have to balance their lives and cinema.
“Cinema Sri Lanka has been identified mainly as a male industry,” she said. However she is of the view that women think differently and would handle an identical same issue in a novel and different manner.
“We must be able to speak to the intelligent audience and most importantly the stories have to be strong,” the young filmmaker said. Ajantha who entered the cinema with the aim of becoming a feature filmmaker after five short films is ready with her story and script for her direction.