![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/image-6-600x338.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBy
\nEmilio Mayorga<\/b><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Suba Sivakumaran<\/i><\/p>\n
LOCARNO \u2014 Suba Sivakumaran\u2019s has been presenting her debut project \u201cThe House of My Fathers,\u201d at the 69th Locarno Open Doors showcase, devoted this year to national cinemas from South Asia region.
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\nA fantasy fable, in \u201cHouse,\u201d two tiny villages \u2013 one Tamil, one Sinhala \u2013 have been locked in a feud since time immemorial. Women cannot conceive anymore. But the Tamil and Sinhala people receive a message from the gods offering a glimmer of hope: a man from one village and a woman from the other must enter the forest. Just one will come back alive.<\/p>\n
Told as a fable, \u201cHouse\u2019s\u201d episodes are firmly anchored in diverse events from history. Sivakumaran said. A vision of a post-conflict society in Sri Lanka, the film\u2019s major issue, she wrote for the Open Doors brochure, is \u201chow we deal with memory as a post-conflict society. How to make sure that we truly \u2018look\u2019 at not only what has happened, but how it has affected us and changed us.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Sri Lankan Tamil writer-director, Sivakumaran directed the short \u201cI Too Have a Name,\u201d which premiered in competition at the 2012 Berlinale. Suba has a degree from the London School of Economics and a Harvard University masters degree \u2013both in politics and public policy.<\/p>\n
\u201cHouse\u201d is produced by Sivakumaran\u2019s Palmyrah Talkies, which is based in the U.K. and Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, most Sri Lankan Sinhalese and Tamil films are parodies of our Indian neighbour; which is for the most part [offers] a terrible and dismally uninteresting mix of boring violence, sexual domination and patriarchy and garish visual styles and sound mixes,\u201d Sivakumaran said.<\/p>\n
And she added: \u201cThere are a few bright spots as always, with a few Sri Lankan filmmakers who are sensitive and brave, and I look up to these filmmakers to take forward our national cinema,\u201d citing Prasanna Vithanage (\u201cWith You, Without You\u201d) and Vimukthi Jayasundara (\u201cDark in the White Light\u201d).<\/p>\n
The Sri Lankan cinema suffers censorship; it doesn\u2019t help that the industry infrastructure is weak: \u201cThis is a critical issue especially post-war, as support from the state and other institutions is totally lacking, at a time when memory and imagination need to be used to overcome the effects of the war.\u201d<\/p>\n
An energetic, rebel spirit, Sivakumaran revealed to Variety she\u2019s developing her next film, which has a working title of \u201cBoxing with Shadows.\u201d It will be set in contemporary London, among its British-Asian youth, and portray rising global racism. It also aims \u201cto explore power and the way power affects the human heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most Open Doors projects depict demanding stories. However, \u201cthe notion of hope and humanity are strongly present, often seen through the eyes of young people in their twenties or so. Projects are often linked to important political change. Memory is a strong common theme as well as migration,\u201d Open Doors curator Sophie Bourdon said.<\/p>\n
The Open Doors Hub section is formed by projects from Bangladesh (Ishtiaque Zico\u2019s \u201cCinema, City and Cats\u201d) and Kamar Ahmad Simon\u2019s \u201cDay After Tomorrow\u201d), Myanmar (Maung Okkar\u2019s \u201cCraving\u201d), Sri Lanka (\u201cThe House of My Fathers\u201d), Nepal (Abinash Bikram Shah\u2019s \u201cSeason of Dragonflies\u201d), Afghanistan (Aboozar Amini\u2019s \u201cThe Cineaste,\u201d) Bhutan (Tashi Gyeltshen\u2019s \u201cThe Red Phallus\u201d) and Pakistan (Maheen Zia\u2019s \u201cThen They Would Be Gone\u201d). Out of Open Doors\u2019 total eight projects just one \u2013\u201cHouse\u201d\u2013 is almost finished.<\/p>\n
Courtesy: Variety<\/p>\n