Arts
Young creators of animated short film ‘83 happy about int’l exposure
“We were not anticipating it at all,” says Sumedha Kelegama as Irushi Tennekoon and Sumudu Athukorala nod in agreement, on how they were taken by surprise to learn that their short film had been nominated for an international festival.
Sumedha and Sumudu at work on their film
’83- the trio’s short film was screened at the Dhaka Art Summit (DAS) held in Bangladesh in February this year, having earlier won the prize for the best animated short film at Colombo’s “Agenda 14 Short Film Festival” in 2016.
Presenting a complex socio-political reading of the 1983 riots, known as Black July in Sri Lankan history, the film captures the trauma of a Sinhalese who was part of a mob. Employing the simple object of ‘baldiya’ (bucket) as a metaphor, the film portrays how the pronunciation of the word was turned to create racial dichotomies during the ’83 riots where the Tamils who pronounced it as ‘valdiya’ were brutally dealt with.
The creators of the film describe it as a zero-budget, stop motion animated film of childlike drawings, showing nothing gruesome on screen, yet conveying a strong message.
An art exhibition presented by 41 Sri Lankan artists was also held as a part of the DAS. Titled ‘One Hundred Thousand Small Tales’ it featured artifacts presented on paper, paintings, photographs, film, sculpture and animation – narratives of Sri Lanka’s recent history through times of war and chaos. Sharmini Pereira curated the exhibition being one of the key figures in the country to promote Sri Lankan contemporary art in the international arena.
’83 was the only short film included in the collection and received positive responses from the international audience, the UK’s Financial Times making special mention of it, commenting that Sri Lankan art deserves a brighter spotlight.
The central theme of the film was a perfect match for the theme of ‘One Hundred Thousand Small Tales.’ “It was something that happened completely unplanned,” Sumudu says.
“We were a part of a group that had Sri Lanka’s most famous artists like Chandraguptha Thenuwara, Laki Senanayake and many others. It is a huge honour for us,” Sumedha reveals that he and Sumudu, both being architects, were inspired by some of these prominent artists.
Irushi’s childhood interest in books drove her to become a doodler and children’s book illustrator. “I’m one of those people who never stopped reading children’s books,” she admits. Taking inspiration from Sybil Wettasinghe and Roald Dahl’s art, Irushi developed her own style of doodling which set up all the scenes in their film.
Sumedha studies architecture in Cuba and conversations in his small office with Sumudu on social issues ignited the core theme of the short film. Sumudu having previous experience in making short films wrote the script and thus the trio produced ’83 assisted by Chinthaka Prabhath in editing and sound effects.
“We are happy that our message went so far which hints that people actually resonate with what we initiated,” Sumedha says. They are currently looking for ideas for a new animated short film for this year’s ‘Agenda 14 Short Film Festival.
Irushi Tennekoon
An image used in the film