The European Film Festival in Colombo provided film-goers a rare opportunity of viewing exceptional modern cinema in November 2009. The festival was a collaborative project involving the European Union Delegation, British Council, Goethe Institut, Alliance Francaise, the French, Dutch, Swiss, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish Embassies and Spanish and Belgian Consulates in Colombo along with the BMICH and the National Film Corporation.
In 2009, in addition to the 35 mm film festival at the BMICH, a DVD film festival also took place simultaneously at the British Council, Goethe Institut and Alliance Francaise in Colombo.
The European Film Festival was set up with the primary objective of promoting a cross cultural dialogue through the medium of contemporary film and offered high quality 35 mm and DVD films to a wider Sri Lankan audience including filmmakers.
UK FILMS SCREENED AT THE FESTIVAL
| Skin (2008) - 35 MM format |
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Sandra Laing entered the world a beautiful baby but no one, not the hospital staff, her mother, father or neighbours would admit the obvious. Abraham and Sannie Laing were white yet their daughter was dark. By a biological quirk, the pigment of an unknown black ancestor had lain dormant for generations and manifested in Sandra. If there was ever a wrong place and wrong time for this phenomenon, it was apartheid South Africa in 1955. Skin is a compelling and moving story about love, betrayal and reconciliation. Director: Anthony Fabian
Principal Cast: Sophie Okonedo, Sam Neill, Alice Krige, Tony Kgoroge, Ella Ramangwane |
| Sisters In Law (2005) - 35 MM format |
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Selected for Cannes 2005, festival favourite Kim Longinotto's latest work (co-directed with Florence Ayisi) is a totally fascinating - often hilarious - look at the work of one small courthouse in south-west Cameroon. The two women at the heart of the documentary wouldn't be out of place in an Alexander McCall Smith bestseller. As the State Counsel and Court President, they dispense wisdom, wisecracks and justice in fair measure. The victims of crime - an abused child, a woman daring to accuse a man of rape, and another trying to end a brutal marriage in a society where divorce is taboo - are handled with fierce compassion. You'll feel like cheering when justice is served. Directors: Kim Longinotto, Florence Ayisi
Principal Cast: Beatrice Ntuba, Vera Ngassa |
| I Know You Know (2008) - DVD format |
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Jamie, an 11-year-old boy, is fascinated by his father Charlie’s espionage work until the world of spies becomes all too real. Charlie lives in his own reality—an undercover agent, always on an important mission, always on the move. Life for Charlie is highly charged and on the edge. He is unpredictable, explosive, yet kind hearted and fiercely protective of his Jamie who hero-worships his father until he slowly begins to understand that his father is occupying a quite different reality. Director: Justin Kerrigan
Principal Cast: Robert Carlyle, Arron Fuller, David Bradley, Valerie Lilley, Karl Johnson |
| Blindsight (2006) - DVD format |
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Set against the breathtaking backdrop of the Himalayas, Blindsight follows the gripping adventure of six Tibetan teenagers on a climbing expedition up the 23,000 foot Lhakpa Ri, on the northside of Mt. Everest. A dangerous journey soon becomes a seemingly impossible challenge made all the more remarkable by the fact that the teenagers are blind. Believed to be possessed by evil demons, the children are feared by their parents, scorned by their villages and rejected by their Buddhist religion. Rescued by Sabriye Tenberken — a blind educator and adventuress who established the first school for the blind in Lhasa — the students invite the famous blind mountain climber Erik Weihenmayer to visit their school after learning about his conquest of Everest. Erik arrives in Lhasa and inspires Sabriye and her students to let him lead them higher than they have ever been before. The result is nothing anyone could have predicted. Director: Lucy Walker
Principal Cast: Erik Weihenmayer, Sabriye Tenberken, Kyila, Tashi, Tenzin |
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