‘Burning Birds’ flies to Munich
View(s):Internationally awarded feature film of Sanjeewa Pushpakumara ‘Davena Vihagun’– ‘Burning Birds’ has been selected for the 35th Munich Film Festival scheduled to be held from June 22 to July 1.
The film has been nominated for the renowned Fritz Gerlich Prize. The Fritz Gerlich Prize is given to a feature film or documentary that courageously deals with a topic of public concern, reflecting Fritz Gerlich’s commitment to human rights, his endeavors to resist repression and intolerance and his opposition to all forms of the totalitarian abuse of power, persecution and oppression.
The award with a cash prize Euros 10,000 is donated by the Munich-based production company TELLUX-Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH and is intended to commemorate Gerlich, a Munich journalist who was executed in the Dachau concentration camp on June 30, 1934. Gerlich was a Catholic who, for reasons of conscience, boldly denounced the inhumane ideology of the Nazis and was one of the first members of the avowed intellectual resistance to be murdered after Hitler’s rise to power. He was the publisher of the weekly newspaper, The Straight Path.
In addition the film has been invited to represent Sri Lanka at several film festivals including 3rd Valleetta Film Festival and 5th Lake Como Film Festival. Held from June 16 to 25, Valleetta Film Festival is held at Valleetta in Malta and the film is being screened in the category of ‘Islanders’. At Lake Como Film Festival in Italy from June 16 to 24, ‘Burning Birds’ will be screening in the competitive section.
‘Burning Birds’ was earlier screened at several international festivals and was nominated for the Best Film of the 15th International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights in Geneva (FIFDH) in March. It competed with seven other films from renowned directors including Golden Globe awards and Best Academy awarded film ‘Moonlight’. It was also nominated for the Best Film at the 27th African Asian Latin American Film Festival in Milano and was in competition at the 46th Rotterdam International Film Festival in the Netherlands. Premiered at 21stBusan International Film Festival in South Korea, where the film was nominated for the Best Film of the festival, ‘Burning Birds’ won the Special Jury Prize (the second prize) of 17th Tokyo FILMeX International Film Festival in Japan.
The second direction by Sanjeewa ‘Burning Birds’ is followed by his controversial debut ‘Flying Fish’ (IgillenaMaluwo).
The film stars Mahendra Perera, Samanalee Fonseka, AnomaJanadari , Chandani Senavirathne, LeonieKotalawala, Pubudu Chathuranga, Priyanka Samaraweera,Dasun Pathirana,Tissa Bandaranayaka, Shyam Fernando, Dharshan Dharmaraj, Sanjeewa Dissanayake and Dharmapriya Dias in the main cast.