For the fifth consecutive year the Jaffna International Cinema Festival (JaffnaICF) will be held from 03 - 09 September 2018 in Jaffna.
22 countries will be participating at this years' festival by presenting nearly 70 films including feature films, documentaries and short films. Participating countries are Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Iran, Italy, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, UK and USA.
This edition of the festival will be opened on 03rd September 2019 at the Majestic Cineplex, Cargills Square, Jaffna and Awards Ceremony will be held on the 09th September 2019 at Majestic Cineplex.
Honoring the seniors and encouraging the young generation of filmmakers, the festival will present awards for Lifetime Achievement, Best Debut Film, Best International Short Film, Ceylon Theatres Award for Best National Short Film and Audience Award for the Most Popular Short Film.
At this edition of the festival, Prof. Neloufer de Mel (Sri Lanka), V. K. Joseph (India) and Cayathri Diwakalala (Sri Lanka) will serve as the jurors in the Competition for Debut Films. Helen Blakeman (UK), Asoka Handagama (Sri Lanka) and Robert Crusz(Sri Lanka) will serve as the jurors in the Short Film Competition.
This year, JaffnaICF will present a retrospective of Sri Lankan filmmaker Prasanna Vithange showcasing ‘Purahanda Kaluwara’ (1997), ‘Ira Mediyama ‘(2003), ‘Oba Nethuwa Oba Ekka’(2012), ‘Anantha Rathriya’(1996), ‘Pawuru Walalu’ (1997 ) and his Debut Documentary Feature ‘Silence in the Courts’ (2015).
Country Focus this year is on Brazil and five feature films from Brazil will be screened during the festival. Government Film Unit of Sri Lanka will present a package of Sri Lankan documentaries this year in Jaffna too.
BAFTA Award winning Screen writer Helen Blakeman(UK) will do a Masterclass on ‘Effective Storytelling’ and Prasanna Vithange will conduct a Masterclass on ‘Communicating through Images’ during the festival.
Dr. T. Sanathanan, Visual Artist and Head of the Fine Art Department of University of Jaffna will take groups of festival visitors on a Memory Walk called “Silver Screen : A walk through 70-80's Cinemas of Jaffna”
Closing Film :
‘ Paangshu’ by Visakesa Chandraseka (Sri Lanka/2018/85’)
Main Venues of the festival are Majestic Cineplex - Cargills Square and Kailasapathy Auditorium - Univesity of Jaffna. Fringe events will be held at British Council - Jaffna and American Corner in Jaffna.
JaffnaICF is a non-partisan platform to explore contemporary forms of creative expression in cinema presented by Agenda 14 in collaboration with Ceylon Theaters and the Fine Arts Department of the University of Jaffna.
BY ANURADHA KODAGODA-Sunday Observer