Banned Sri Lankan IFI film. A threat to national security?

national | rights, freedoms and repression | press release Monday January 21, 2008 22:04 by JC - Irish Peace Forum

Screening of 'Me Mage Sandai' Sri Lankan film

The Irish Film Institute is screening an award-winning film, initially banned in its native Sri Lanka, on the grounds that it demoralises the military and is a threat to national security. Purahanda Kaluwara (Death on a Full Moon Day) deals with the human fallout of the ongoing conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers. Directed by Prassanna Vithanage, it won the prestigious Grand Prix at the Amiens Film Festival and has become one of the most successful films in Sri Lanka?s 50-year cinema history.

The film is being screened as part of a double bill, alongside another controversial Sri Lankan film. Me Mage Sandai (This is my Moon) tells the story of a young Tamil woman raped by a soldier. Pregnant, she follows him to his village, a poor community turned upside down by the war. Director, Asoka Handagama has won international acclaim, but was denounced by the Chief Justice of Sri Lanka's Supreme Court, whocalled for his most recent film to ?be destroyed

The screening is being organised by the Irish Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka (IFPSL) is a group of academics, artists and human rights activists. A spokesperson of IFPSL explains ?one of our key aims is to apply the lessons of the Northern Ireland peace process to the conflict in Sri Lanka.?

Sri Lanka?s on-going conflict has recently flared up again after a period of relative calm. Between 1983 and the ceasefire of 2002 an estimated 65,000 Sri Lankans were killed in the conflict. Since the breakdown of the ceasefire in 2005 a further 5,000 people have died and 300,000 have been displaced.

An estimated 2,000 Sri Lankans currently reside in Ireland.

Purahanda Kaluwara (Death on a Full Moon Day),
Me Mage Sandai (This is my Moon)

02 February 2007,
12.30 p.m. ? 4.10 p.m.
Irish Film Institute, Temple Bar, Dublin.

Telephone interviews with both directors (who speak excellent English) can be
arranged.

Contact:

Jenny Haughton
Irish Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka
087 2322585
irishpeaceforum@gmail.com