A love for storytelling now captured in film form

Written in two days and shot in three, Asitha Ameresekere’s short film ‘Do Not Erase’ might very well be the lucky winner of the ‘Best Short Film’ category at the BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) awards being held at the Royal Opera House in London’s Covent Garden at 7 p.m. tonight. The BAFTAs are the UK’s most prestigious film awards and widely regarded as the forerunner to the Oscars.

‘Do Not Erase’, written, directed and produced by Asitha, has won critical acclaim in many countries and has been shown at nine film festivals including Hamburg, Edinburgh, Cologne, Toronto, Vancouver and Rotterdam. Here the young film-maker born in the UK to Sri Lankan parents responds via mail to some questions from The Sunday Times.

I have always loved listening to and telling stories. As a kid I soon realised that I preferred writing about my toys than actually playing with them! And most of the time, stories play out like films, in our heads anyway. The other important factor was my father introducing me to myth at an early age. I began learning ancient Greek at age nine, continued it with Latin through school and university, and it was this that taught me more about storytelling than anything else. I was fascinated by theatre, even though film was always in the background. The stage was something I could participate in, and it was cheap and immediate. I guess film allows you to challenge yourself in a limitless way, taking the audience to different worlds and telling many stories at the same time from different perspectives. And that is the draw for me: to ask questions about something I don’t know about.

The interest in film is prevalent in my family, but mostly in my mother. She has always been fascinated by it and has acted in plays as a child and adult . She is also a storyteller, often relating anecdotes from our family’s peppered past. She is the one who inspires me the most. My sister writes and my brother is more musically inclined. Perhaps we’ll join forces one day on a project!

‘Do Not Erase’ was born in March 2003 when the coalition forces first went into Iraq. In one London newspaper over a period of several weeks at that time, photos of soldiers on the ground were placed next to a small column asking for the public’s help in locating missing people in the UK. It started me thinking about what went through the minds of families of soldiers stationed thousands of miles away from home, especially when they went missing in action. It moved me that the families were often kept in the dark about their loved ones’ whereabouts for security reasons and more importantly, had no one to talk to. The first image I had of the film in my head was of a mother staring at a camera lens with so much to say but unable to say a word, which turned into the final scene of the film. In addition to this, what has always interested me is the camera as a character in film, and by having a mother make video diaries for her son, I could explore this.

It took me two years of thinking about the story before I wrote anything down, and when I did, two days was enough time to complete the script. This is usually how I work, whether with screenplays or short stories. We shot the film in three days because we had next to no money and also more time wasn’t necessary. The film was shot without any lights and the camera hardly moved so the scenes played out as if on stage before the lens. With the editing, again, it was a case of choosing the best take and putting the scenes in the right order, so that process took two days.

I like walking and watching people as I do so, catching snippets of conversation and seeing how people react in different situations, how they phrase things, what their expressions are like. These are the things that inspire me: everyday mundane scenarios! Apart from that, non-fiction books and short stories, documentaries and feature films, but mostly short films, which I feel allow us to be as bold as we like without restriction. It is a wonderful genre and meeting other short filmmakers inspires me a lot.

Divorced, no children.

My parents and brother live in the UK, my sister is in Italy and the rest of my family in Sri Lanka. I was born in London, went to school in the UK, then Colombo for several years, returned to London for boarding school, graduated from Bristol University in Classics and taught English in Colombo after that. Then I gained an MFA in Directing for Theatre, Video & Cinema at the California Institute of the Arts, living there for three years. I have lived in London since then.

I have never made anything in Sri Lanka but would love to. I just need to find the right story. I feel very proud when I read about young Sri Lankan filmmakers and visual artists doing well in the world and being recognised for their work which cuts through a naturally competitive industry. Sri Lanka has so much to offer in terms of rich landscape and culture, in cinematic terms. But it is the lives of the people that are most fascinating, and needs to be shared more with the world.

I used to visit Sri Lanka at least once a year while growing up and then there was a hiatus of 10 years. I returned again just after the tsunami and have recently come back from there last month. I plan to visit for longer periods every year from now on.

My first collection of short stories will be published by Perera-Hussein Publishing House in Colombo in the spring. Each story was written as a wedding gift for friends getting married, or as birthday presents etc. They are set all over the world, including Sri Lanka, and at different time periods, so are quite disconnected! With the screenplays, I have been working on a feature set on the Mexican border town of Tijuana and am about to start writing. It is a film I just want to write and not direct.

The other screenplay will be set in the UK and is just a seed of an idea right now. I am also planning to shoot another short film in the next couple of months, with the same team as before.

The first year at CalArts was dedicated to acting, and was completely new to me. But it was fantastic and I learnt more about taking risks and being vulnerable than ever before. For me it informed my directing and writing no end, and it was terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. I’ve never acted in something I’ve directed.

So far, I’ve only directed films I’ve written, but I have directed plays from other writers. The only criteria is to find a story that moves you and appears in your head when you read it. Of course during the rehearsal process, this changes and the actors tell you their version of the story too. I believe the second best thing for a director to do is provide a safe environment for your actors and crew to work in, so they can take whatever risks they wish, and push themselves and each other. The best thing a director can do is shut up, listen, sit in a corner and watch!

I’ve made about eight short films but only the last two have been submitted to film festivals. The first of these – in sight – was accepted at 15 film festivals and won five awards. Do Not Erase has been screened at nine film festivals and won three awards. It also has a sales agent – the Hamburg Short Film Agency – so may be hitting TV this year.

Words of wisdom? Well…never give up, keep writing or looking for stories, and enjoy yourself.