The Projector

Uppalavanna:

Making the decisive choice

Uppalavanna, a cinematic creation of Prof. Sunil Ariyaratne for Sumathi films on a script written by Dr. Tissa Abeysekera is now screened in the CLF cinema circle. The film is claimed to be the modern version of Uppalavanna Therani that we come across in the Theri Gatha. We have heard of Uppalavanna of the past.

The one who was born in the city of Hansawathi and possessed great psychic powers during the time of Piyumathura Buddha. And the one who indulged herself totally with meritorious acts during Dhasup Buddha’s time when she was born as King Kiki’s daughter.

How do we compare today’s Uppalavanna with them?

Upuli born to an aristocratic physician father and a respectable mother later became Uppalavanna. It was the ‘89 terror era. Though she bore the identical name, the path of each was so different.

The former Uppalavanna offered alms covered with a lotus leaf to a ‘Pacceka’ Buddha and wished to see lotus flowers in bloom everywhere.

In her journey in ‘sansara’, see was spontaneously born in a lotus pond at the foot of a rock.

For Upuli life was different. She fell in love with a low caste dancing teacher. She left her parents and got married. Her happiness did not last long.

Bearing up her troubles the determined Upuli sought solace in a distant forest hermitage when she donned the yellow robe and became Uppalavanna.

As a youthful Uppalavanna, did she manage to fulfil her wishes?

In the era of terror, living alone in the jungle amidst all the action of the freedom fighters was frightening.

When she confronts a severely wounded rebel, she realised she had to make a hard decision - whether to treat him and look after him or abandon him.

She made the decisive choice. With her decision began the second phase of her life facing the realities of our cruel society.

Does she ultimately step on to the path?

Legendary film-maker Bergman dies aged 89

STOCKHOLM: Ingmar Bergman, one of the most influential film directors of the 20th century, died Monday at his home on the Swedish island of Faaro, his sister Eva told the TT news agency. He was 89.

Bergman was widely acclaimed for films such as “The Seventh Seal” (1957) and “Fanny and Alexander” (1982), which won four Oscars, including for Best Foreign Language Film.

Eva Bergman said that her father had passed away “peacefully.”

For many movie buffs, Bergman was the greatest of the authorial film-makers of the 1950s and 1960s, outranking even such figures as Federico Fellini, Luis Bunuel or Jean-Luc Godard.

The demanding nature of his work, in particular the gravity of his themes, was such that the general public found him remote, and he was accused in his homeland of being partly responsible for Sweden being presented as a country of neurotics.

Ernst Ingmar Bergman was born in Uppsala, Sweden, on July 14, 1918, the second of three children.

His strict childhood — his father Erik was a clergyman — and family relationships influenced him profoundly and were reflected in all his work.

At Stockholm University he discovered his vocation when he chose the dramatic society over his literature and art history classes.

He directed his first film “Crisis” in 1945 but it was not until 1956 that he won international acclaim when “Smiles of a Summer Night” was shown at the Cannes Festival. For more than three decades he produced an average of a movie a year.

Known in Sweden mainly as a dramatist, Bergman obtained poor reviews for work that was considered dark and incomprehensible, with its focus on love, loneliness, anguish and relations with God.

Women also occupied a central role in his work, which often dwelt on the mysteries of the female soul. He had

 loved his mother intensely as a child, and when a doctor advised her to set him aside or he would be damaged for life, he felt the loss deeply.

Mother-son relationships featured prominently in his work, as did his experiences from five marriages. He had nine children, including a daughter by actress Liv Ullmann.

Bergman made profoundly personal films following his intellectual and spiritual preoccupations and tracing his loss of faith in God.

“The Seventh Seal”, “The Virgin Spring” (1960), “Through a Glass Darkly” (1961), “Winter Light” (1963) and “The Silence” (1963) all lead progressively to a rejection of religious belief, leaving only the conviction that human life is haunted by “a virulent, active evil.”

With “Wild Strawberries” (1957), Bergman turned increasingly to psychological dilemmas and ethical issues in human and social relations once religion proved a failure.

For many years Bergman declined attractive offers to work abroad. But in 1976, after being charged by the Swedish tax authorities, he moved to Germany and worked as the director of Munich Residenz Theater.

After a six-year exile he returned to Sweden and remained there until his death. Officially “retired”, he continued to work tirelessly, directing television plays, writing screenplays — such as the autobiographical saga “The Best Intentions” which, reduced to three-hour film length, won the 1992 Cannes Golden Palm for director Bille August.

AFP

Nine-year-old director joins Guinness records

Ruwini Jayawardana

CINEMA: At the age of nine when most boys his age are out playing cricket or going crazy over Harry Potter films, popular child actor nine-year-old Master S. S. Kishan of Karnataka, India, reached one step in life which marked him out for the Guinness book of World Records.

This talented young lad, the son of Shrikanth and Shailaja Shrikant, had gone beyond the screen and had proven his capability at directing a film. By calling on the shots for ‘C\O Footpath’, a story based on street children, Kishan became the youngest director to direct a feature film.

The previous holder of this record was Sydney Ling of Netherlands who was 13 when he directed ‘Lex the Wonderdog’, a thriller of canine detection.

For young Kishan it all began one day while he was out on a drive with his father.

“I saw all these children on the road as our car drove past and I asked my father about them. I was saddened to learn that they lead a very different lifestyle from ours.

They did not attend school or study. I decided to do something for them,” Kishan explained on how he got the idea to make ‘C\O Footpath’.

The film unfolds a story on how a street child gets the chance to go to school and how he achieves great heights as a result of education.

It is meant to be an inspiration for millions of street children. This $170, 000 movie was produced by Kishan’s mother who is a movie music director. The shooting took place in the Southern city of Chennai and in Mumbai. Celebrated Bollywood actor Jackie Shroff starred in the movie.

Released last year in Karnataka the film ran for 100 days. The Tamil version ran for about 50 days in Chennai. ‘C\O Footpath’ is ready to be dubbed in Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi.

Kish won Chamber of the Deputies award and the Children’s Right award for his creation at the Giffoni International Film Festival held at Italy from July 14 to 21. It was the only Indian nomination at the film festival which is also known as the ‘Children’s Oscars’.

Not stopping there Kishan who draws inspiration from Steven Spielberg is hoping to aim at an Oscar one day.

He had already revealed that though he is not fluent in the language, his next film is in Hindi.

Box Office hit Transformers at the Majestic

Transformers, the live action film based on the Transformers franchise which is directed by Michael Bay and executive produced by Steven Spielberg will be screened at the Majestic from August 10 with Dolby Digital surround sound.

The film stars Shia LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky, who has the map to the Allspark, an object at the center of the war between the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons. The film also stars Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Jon Voight, John Turturro, and Hugo Weaving as the voice of Megatron. Peter Cullen, the voice of Optimus Prime in the 1980s cartoon, reprised the role for the film.

Producers Don Murphy and Tom DeSanto developed the film, and Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman wrote the script, aiming for a realistic interpretation of the characters. Though not a Transformers fan, Bay was convinced by Spielberg to direct, and he created an intricate design aesthetic for the computer-generated robots.

General Motors and the United States military lent their support during filming, to keep the budget under $150 million.

Armed with an enormous marketing campaign including comics, toys and tie-in deals, Transformers opened in the United States on July 2, 2007, and broke the box office record for the highest-grossing opening week for a non-sequel. Critics praised the special effects, but criticized the characterisation.

Directed by Michael Bay
Produced by Steven Spielberg
Starring
Shia LaBeouf
Megan Fox
Josh Duhamel
Tyrese Gibson
Jon Voight