Yesterday I was able to attend a lecture presented by veteran Sri Lankan filmmaker Ashoka Handagama titled “A New Era of Sri Lankan Cinema - More than a Dream”. Handagama, not only a well known and controversial director but also a top figure at Central Bank of Sri Lanka working as Director of Communications. Although as a filmmaker, he’s known to focus on controversial issues and had attracted both praises and criticism from different ends, his lecture seem to distance him self from the rebellious character and focused on a detailed and a structured plan on revitalizing the Sri Lankan Cinema Industry.
 |
| Kadaunu Poronduwa (1947) considered to be the first Sri Lankan film to be produced |
Sri Lankan Cinema Industry, which flourished and reached its
peak in the late 70s, came crashing down during the 80s and was lagging on its
knees during the 90s and even now. The number of cinema halls and even the
total cinema admissions have reduced drastically compared to the golden age of
the 70s. Miscalculated government policies, television and also the communal
and social unrest that prevailed during the early and late 80s crippled the
once flourished Sri Lankan Film industry with little hope for a revitalization. Mr.Handagama
pointed out some attempts made during the 90s to revitalize the Sri Lankan
Film industry, with appointment of a commission to look into the crisis headed
by Professor Senaka Bandaranayake. Though the commission report published in
1996 identified several factors that needs to be improved in order to revitalize
the industry, these were not properly implemented or practiced. After one and
half decades later, Sri Lankan Film industry is at almost non-existent with only a handful
of quality films being produced. Local film industry has lost its mass market appeal and few quality halls remaining are invaded withHollywood and Bollywood blockbusters, without much success to the
local filmmakers.
An International Film Festival?
Proposal made by Handagama was to revitalize the whole
industry by exposing the Sri Lankan Cinema to the International Markets, and vice
versa through an extravagant mass scale film festival that would in turn entice
enthusiasm about film, promote local productions and also benefit Sri Lankan
tourism industry through entertainment tourism. The idea here was to make this
film festival, termed “Colombo International Film Festival” which will bring in
International films, directors and the film community to Colombo while also
promoting selected locally made films during the festival. The event will
provide opportunities to promote local productions and networking whilst
promoting Sri Lanka as a destination for film locations.
International Film Festivals as a means of promoting and
uplifting an industry has worked out well for many countries. Apart from some of the major film festivals
such as Berlin, Cannes, Los Angels there are other festivals such as Dubai, Busan, and Tokyo that have made a great impact in the region where it has
helped the film industry of the host country immensely. One main example
Handagama presented was the success story of the Busan Film Festival, in South
Korea. In 1996 when it was first launched the Korean film industry was
virtually unknown in the International arena, however, within few years, Korean
films reached its golden era where many Korean film directors were able to make
a name for themselves globally. It also helped the country to revitalize its
industry and helped grow enthusiasm amongst the general public, where by now
Korean Film Industry has become one of the top globally. This model has now become a favored strategic implmentation that has been picked up by many other countries as well, some of the examples are film festivals such as Hanoi, Indian.
The practical application of this model is yet to be taken up by relevant parties as this is just a proposed plan and suggestions. In the Sri Lankan context it may not be as easy as the Korean scenario and in terms of sustainability and profitability
there may be questions. However, it’s great to see a new bold way of thinking
has gone into this, where Mr.Handagama with his experience in the film industry
and also as in his role as a banker had devised a fresh plan to uplift the film
industry in the country. Of course this is just a first step in a long journey,
however if this can be implemented correctly, this might very well be the spark that can
reignite the Sri Lankan Film Industry back to its former glory.
