Cast & Credits

 

Cast and crew of Api Merenne Ne

Palitha Silva (Manoj Amarajeewa)
Semini Iddamalgoda (Amarajeewa's wife)
Kumar Thirimadura (Manoj's friend)
Sanoja Bibile (Ginige's wife)
Lucky Dias
Anton Jude
Sarath Kothalawala
G B Gangodathenna
Upali Kirthisena
Ashoka Soysa
Chanchala Warnasruiya
Kamal Dilshan
Chaminda Wickramasinghe
Roshan Jayasundara
Camera : K D Dayananda
Make up : Sanira Dinesh Kumara
Art director: Lesley Wimal
Scripter : K B Herath
Producer : Ruwan Rukmal Thilakarathne Anusha Mediwaka
Assistant director : Roshan Jayasundara
Director : Mohan Niyaz

We Do not die

A Black comedy in local cinama for the first time:

Sachitra Mahendra

Manoj Amarajeewa is a middle-aged father of two sons. They are on an official trip on the company vehicle. Amarajeewa suddenly gets down to attend an urgent matter. Within a few seconds the vehicle is blown off by a claymore, killing all the passengers, making the company settle the compensations in the aftermath.

Semini

Amarajeewa's plan is to get hold of the compensation, though the turn of events is otherwise with his funeral held at his home. A disguised Amarajeewa attends the funeral with Ginige, his only friend who knows the truth. The funeral proceedings make Amarajeewa frustrated, however he cannot commit suicide for obvious reasons!

Api Merenne Ne (We do not die) is the first Sri Lankan Black Comedy based on a concept and the script by K B Herath.

"I have already introduced black comedy in stage plays. 'Maya Devi' is a black comedy stage play I did in 1980."

Scripting a black comedy, however, was not easy for Herath, as it's far deeper than an average comedy.

"Black comedy comes under the category of comedy. I had to make the dialogues and situations humorous, but not comical. Sometimes you would not even notice the humour."

The film shooting is to set off from October 7 with Mohan Niyaz entering the directorial scene after a long break.

"I was fed up with filming. I wanted to do something new. I was quite fascinated by the black comedy concept, because I have seen many films of this type. Luckily K B Herath came to my help, and was ready to give me a helping hand."

The movie is expected to be shot in Kandy and Kalutara for one month, and is to be released towards the end of December.

Palitha Silva, who stars the main character, said the role is challenging.

"This is not exactly comical. Many comedies are popular, and you can act in a funny way. But here you have no such freedom, as there should some sort of serious acting as well."

Kalinga showcases his short films

Ruwini Jayawardana

Kalinga Deshapriya

Life Circle

A collection of short films, directed, cinematographed or edited by Kalinga Deshapriya Vithanage will be screened at the Russian Cultural Centre, Colombo 7, on September 16 at 6 p.m. The films titled 'Birdy', 'Tell Tale', 'Life Circle', 'Shutter', 'Elif's Seoulitude' and 'The Legend of K' are all shot in South Korea and based on diverse themes.

Kalinga's love for cinema sparked at an early age. Hailing from Anuradhapura, the talented youth chanced upon the set of avant-garde filmmaker Asoka Handagama's tele drama Synthetic Sihina.

He later worked with veteran art director Rohan Samaradivakara on Handagama's feature Me Magai Sandai (This is My Moon) and later formed an alliance with cinematographer Channa Deshapriya who guided his journey into filmmaking. He began working under Suren de Silva at Video Image working as a lighting technician, camera assistant and later a cameraman.

Shutter	Tell Tale	Elif’s Seoulitude	The Legend of K

Kalinga pursued a course in cinematography and was invited to the Asian Film Academy and Pusan International Film Festival along with the Korean Film Commission to study cinematography at the Korean academy of Film Arts. He graduated this year and had made more than 10 short films so far.

Machan wins at Venice Film Festival

Machan produced by Prasanna Vithanage and directed by Uberto Pasolini has won the European Award at the 65th Venice International Film Festival held recently. This award enables the film to be screened in the European film circuit.

Machan also won the award for the Best Film presented by the Italian cinema industry at the same Festival. The Venice Film Festival the oldest of its kind is considered one of three major international Film Festivals now on.

NFC 2009 registration

The National Film Corporation (NFC) is in the process of collecting data for the publication of their telephone directory for the year 2009.

All personal details pertaining to the film industry are expected to be included in the new directory. Any change in information provided in the 2008 directory and new artistes' details could be included in the new directory, provided they are sent to the below address, before October 10, 2008.

Deputy General Manager - Operations 303, Sri Lanka Film Corporation, Colombo 7. (More information could be had from 2593430).

Jannat at Regal

Jannat is the story of a man caught in a quagmire of crime and consumerism as he struggles to find heaven on earth.

Arjun is a reckless young man with an obsession for making money at card games. A chance meeting with a girl in a mall, Zoya gives him the reasons he was looking for to move out of his ordinary life. He steps up from playing small-time card games to becoming a bookie.

Stuck in a triangle of sorts between the woman he loves and his addiction to make a quick buck, Arjun moves on from being a bookie to a runner for the mafia. He steps into the world of match fixing. Arjun switches on the limelight to bigger, better, faster, more, until his dizzying rise attracts the attention of the police.

How far will the horizon of reality stretch as Arjun and Zoya tread a fine, fast-blurring line between right and wrong to find the heaven they have been looking for? Jannat, directed by Mukesh Bhatt, will start screening at Regal, Colombo, from September 19.