Sumathy goes to Toronto with ‘The Single Tumbler’
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The Single Tumbler, Sivamohan Sumathy’s latest feature film will be screened at IFFSA Toronto, 2021 edition, the largest South Asian Film Festival in North America this week. The festival runs from Aug12-22 and is virtual this year. The Single Tumbler is on Day 5 of the festival, and can be viewed through registration on their website, https://www.iffsavirtual.com/; click on the poster of THE SINGLE TUMBLER.
Director Sivamohan Sumathy
Called Ottrai Tumbler in Tamil, this Tamil language 75-minute film is about the pain of a community. As the synopsis says, “The war between the Sri Lankan armed forces and the Tamil separatist group, Tigers is over. Lalitha returns to Sri Lanka, to the family she left behind in a time of great turbulence. Memories are hard and bitter. Why does Daisy teacher cling to the single tumbler? Did Fatima curse them, when the Muslims were evicted by the militants? Why did Jude the brother disappear? What secrets do Jessie and Anthony hide?”
“Single Tumbler” won the Best International Feature Film at Cinemaking International Film Festival, Bangladesh and was featured at the Jaipur International Film Festival, India, Jaffna International Film Festival, 2020-21 and in addition to IFFSA Tornto in August, it will be on “Imagine India, International Film Festival”, Madrid in October, 2021.
After a private screening of the film in its last stages of competition, the writer, script writer, critic, translator and activist, Sarath Kellepotha wrote to the director, “the film forces you to re-examine, re-evaluate. War has a catastrophic effect on the wellbeing of the peoples. Although not a single shot was shown about the war, we could very well feel its presence throughout looming in the background. It aptly portrays the destiny of a nation. Nowhere to go, no idea about where to go, no one to guide them”.
The film garnered its own share of criticism at the Jaffna International Film Festival, where on the closing day of the Jaffna screenings, a lively and heated debate followed the screening, on March 25, 2021. Later, Athanas Jesurasa wrote a scathing critique of it on his Facebook page(https://www.facebook.com/jesurasa.athanas.35/posts/1631147183753778), denouncing the film’s political leanings and the director’s politics, to which critique M. Thiruvarangan responded with an elaborate defenseof the film inMattram(https://maatram.org/?p=9248)
“The Single Tumbler is a recuperation of life lived in pain and betrayal, seeking reconciliation, affirmation and hope” says the poster of the film. For Sumathy, The Single Tumbler “is an inward glance; a close intimate look at northern Tamil society in Sri Lanka, at a time of crisis of identity. It is riven from within by its class, gender, and ethnic persuasions. “I look at my own home, family, community and nation, through the lens of displacement. I look at post war Sri Lanka, haunted by its past and marginalization, exclusions and complicities that exist side by side,” said Sumathy.
Production wise, in the Single Tumbler, Sumathy continues to work with her usual trusted crew, Sunil Perera as DOP, Elmo Halliday as Editor, Lal Harindranath as Production Designer. The score is by the young London based and acclaimed pianist and musician, Kausikan Rajeshkumar, and has Nirmala Rajasingham, Sharmini Marsilamani, S. Loganathan, Miriam Navaneendran, Jenoshan Jeyaratnam, Ahallya David and Ramiah Sagunthala; Not entirely unknown to the film world, but new faces in mainstream cinema. Ashfaqque Mohamed, the budding film maker, is the skilled Assistant Director, and Gloryana Johnphilip, another aspiring film maker assists Lal Harindranath while Usman Akeel is Production Manager; a production crew of young professionals.