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Monday, 23 April 2012 |
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However, the trailer of ‘Flying Fish’ reminds me of the positive influences of long shots with broad landscaping and scenes of Vimukthi Jayasundara’s ‘Forsaken Land’ which was the one and only Cannes award winning debut feature in the country. So far ‘Flying Fish’ has been shown in many international film festivals around the world and had won many international awards and applause. ‘Flying Fish’ also received the attention of many international film critics due to its controversial approach. When British film critic and writer Tony Rayns identified Pushpakumara as the first true modernist of Sri Lankan cinema, American film critic Jay Weissberg said “Pushpakumara wants to give ‘Flying Fish’ a narrative despite having little sense of constructing one story, let alone three.” This proves the level of appreciation and the criticism that ‘Flying Fish’ has received. “‘Flying Fish’ is synonymous with my personal experiences. I would say that it brought a measure of relief to my soul,” the international award winning film-maker said. Q: What is 'Flying Fish' about?
A: ‘Flying Fish’ reveals my true life experiences in three entwined stories. It is an anthology film. I was born and grew up in Trincomalee. The entire film is based in the same atmosphere. It relates my childhood and how I lost myself on exemplary characters that I admired in life. I tried to recreate my story from my film. I have no clue as to how the Sri Lankan audience might accept it. The producer of ‘Flying Fish’ is Mano Nanayakkara who is the chairman of Asia Digital Entertainment Pvt Ltd. They have invested Rs.2.5 million on the project. However once I completed the production I applied for the Hubert Bals fund of the Rotterdam Film Festival, to get funding for the post production of the film. The Hubert Bals fund supports film directors who are from third world countries. My film too got selected and they agreed to invest Euros 25,000 for the post production with a condition to premier the film at Rotterdam Film Festival in 2011 before screening it in any other film festival or country. After discussing with my local producer, we decided to proceed and today I think it was a wise decision because ‘Flying Fish’ was able to achieve global recognition. Q: You have won many accolades for your maiden production. A: It is a great motivation for an upcoming film-maker to win
an international award or participate in an international film festival.
It brings good exposure for his or her life in cinema.
The most important thing is that we get the opportunity to meet many world famous film directors and many other personalities who are directly involved with the film industry. It opens many avenues for an upcoming film-maker to bring his or her production to the world. I have gained a lot of experience which comes in handy for my future cinematic ventures. It has broadened my vision in cinema. Q: Is ‘Flying Fish’ another propaganda-based film which only targets international film festival awards? A: First of all I do productions for my personal satisfaction. I don’t have any propaganda or I’m not a film-maker who does films for a living. The only reason I do films is because I have stories to share with my own people. I don’t see why we should not attend international film festivals. It is no evil. People from everywhere in the world come for these events. I don’t care about their nationality. What concerns me is whether they enjoy my creation or not. So far ‘Flying Fish’ made its presence known because of the international film festivals which it participated in. I don’t see any problem with that. For me an international film festival is a market for good creations. Nobody can do films by predicting the criteria of international film festivals. It varies according to the socio-political ideology of the respective festival director. They select films according to those demands. Those who couldn’t get their movies global recognition are making that complaint. I am not an artiste. And I don’t believe I can be one either. For me an artiste is a saint. I believe that I can never be a saint. I am not an intellectual either and I don’t want be an intellectual. I really don’t know whether I’m a film-maker. However I’m a ‘technical’ film-maker and to become an ‘organic’ film-maker is my goal. I’m a fan of Abbas Kiarostami and he had once said his films are based on his own life. This is a characteristic of an organic film-maker. Q: What is cinema? A: It is a complicated question. Andre Bazin tries to find the answer in his book ‘What is cinema?’. Tarkovsky’s book ‘Sculpting in time’ embarks on the same quest. Even those great masters couldn’t find an exact definition for that philosophical question. My understanding of cinema is how we portray ourselves through a camera angle. I don’t believe that Sri Lankan cinema could sustain as an industry. It is not merely a problem in cinema rather it has a few other socio-political aspects. Cinema is the most expensive medium of art forms and countries like America, India and Korea who could sustain their domestic film industries are economically well established countries. Other than the strong economical conditions, Korea has a much higher population than Sri Lanka. Being a non multi-cultured society is also favourable factor for them. Sri Lankans generally hesitate to appreciate ‘change’ which is common in cinema. Most of our cinema artistes have not been exposed to the international film industries. I see this as a great loophole to sustain our cinema as an industry. Q: What are your future plans with ‘Flying Fish’? A: I do my higher studies in cinema at Chung-Ang University in South Korea. It’s quite strange that most of my friends who live in Sri Lanka advice me not to return to the country once finish my studies while those who live abroad never encourage me to live in another country. I love to live in Sri Lanka not because I’m a patriot. This is the land I know. I wish to analyze the Sri Lankan audience’s reaction to ‘Flying Fish’. Young blood in Nalaka’s debut movieShying away from stale contemporary cinema trends, young film director Nalaka Vithanage has come up with a unique cinematic creation that touches upon the aesthetic heart strings of local movie buffs.
The film strives to grasp the intellect of the viewers, while entertaining the audience with an emotionally absorbing storyline. Sharing the same connotation as mutability or the transience of human life, the movie is christened as ‘Anitya’. “It is a love story, but it goes beyond the sloppy, juvenile romantic stories that you see everyday. It discusses youth issues deeply. I hope it will capture the hearts of the younger generation,” Nalaka said. Though this is Nalaka’s first cinematic creation, he is not a complete stranger to the local arts scene. Working alongside his father, Bandula Vithanage, he started his journey in 2004 with the stage-drama ‘Rathree Bojanaya’. The drama was an adaptation of the British play ‘Don’t Dress for Dinner’. He has also directed popular television dramas such ‘Dekona Gini,’ ‘I love Jenny’ and ‘My Sweet Stanly’. Then his creative prowess came in to full swing, as he captured the Sri Lankan audience with critically acclaimed dramas such as ‘Breaking News’ and ‘Upanda Maranaya’.
Revealing his thoughts on the current trends in cinema Nalaka noted, “I don’t believe that we should differentiate films as commercial films and art films. I feel you can make a commercially successful film while keeping the artistic and aesthetic elements intact. But most productions that come these days focus solely on financial benefits. It creates a negative impact on the industry.” The film introduces a new cast to Sri Lankan moviegoers. The main role is played by debutant Manik Wijewardana. Vishwa Lanka, Kishani Alanki Perera and Udith Abeyrathne take on other significant roles. Seasoned professionals in the local cinema industry Sangeetha Weerarathne, Roger Senevirathna and Bandula Vithanage contribute to the film. Haren Nagodavithana, Chinthaka Ranaweera, Nuwan Valivita and Kosala G Thanthula are the producers of the project. Shadish Pathirana is the executive producer. The songs and melodies were composed by Malik Perera. The art direction was done by Rohana Hewavitharana and the lighting and camera direction was done by P Balasooriya. Kirsch proud of ‘John Carter’Taylor Kitsch was made to look “awful” in ‘John Carter’.
The 31-year-old actor plays the titular military captain who is sent to Mars in the film and he has revealed his handsome appearance would be marked up on set most days. When asked how he feels to be a sex symbol, he said: “I don’t pick my roles in any way, shape or form in the sense of that kind of stuff. If anything, we uglify a lot of that. Even in ‘John Carter’ we tried, if you ask Bill Corso who did make-up. Every morning he made me look so awful. “It’s just honest to the character. There’s little things you can do to show how messed up he is - if there’s more cuts and bruises, to the bags under his eyes, to making him more pale in the flashback scene. Half the crew thought I was really sick because we did the make-up that way.” Despite mind-blowing special effects and a huge promotional campaign, ‘John Carter’ - which is based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ ‘Barsoom’ series of novels - has been one of the biggest box office flops of all time. The Walt Disney studio expects to lose $200m on the movie. However, Taylor - who can currently also be seen in ‘Battleship’ opposite Rihanna - is not concerned by the feature’s financial failure and insists he is extremely proud of the movie. ‘John Carter’ is screening at Liberty cinema, Colombo. It is an EAP release. Battle royale at seaBig screen adaptations of popular board games seem to be the current trend in movie-making.
Ridley Scott’s planning to film Monopoly, Ouija is currently being produced as a thriller and we can expect everything from Cluedo to Snakes And Ladders to make their screen debuts soon. Like the others, the production of ‘Battleship’ was gnarled with apprehensive speculation. More so for appearing to be a mindless big budget Transformers-like movie for the high seas. Sadly it is exactly that. In typical sci-fi action fashion, ‘Battleship’ opens with Nasa doing
what it does best — sending a signal to the far reaches of the universe
in the hope of finding intergalactic life.
Before long, an answer comes in the form of alien invaders who crashland in Hawaii just as an international navy training exercise is underway. The aliens set up a barrier, trapping a few battleships within its force field. And with fancy weapons and an unclear objective, they begin to lay waste to the population. Not only is the Navy desperately out-gunned, but circumstances have it that they fall under the command of Lt Alex Hopper (played by Taylor Kitsch), an officer of great potential but is problematic and immature. That he’s dating the Admiral’s (Liam Neeson) daughter (Brooklyn Decker) doesn’t help his case either. Audiences will find Kitsh’s brash officer Hopper far more likable than the stoic John Carter and his intense, brooding nature keeps the film edgy and moving. First-time actress Rihanna in particular shows no hint of her diva roots as handy weapons expert Cora Raikes. With a limited script, mostly pointless tactical ramble and cheesy one-liners, the Barbados singer was, surprisingly, a pleasant character to watch. As always, Neeson is a fantastic presence on screen. ‘Battleship’ is screening at Liberty Lite cinema, Colombo, and Majestic Cineplex Platinum theatre. The movie was released in Sri Lanka a month ahead of the US premiere. NFC Avurudu celebrationsThe National Film Corporation’s sports society will hold an Avurudu festival on April 27. The event will be held at the corporation premises with the participation of its staff members. |
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