Director Prasanna Vithanage in person!

North American Premiere

Official Selection, Busan International. Director Prasanna Vithanage is an award-winning filmmaker whose narratives and documentaries have screened at festivals around the world and achieved commercial success.

Vithanage’s searing masterpiece is a period drama that takes on caste conflict and British colonial influences in Sri Lanka in the early 1800s. An exceptional narrative and captivating cinematography, Vithanage draws us into the past with great ease.

When the aristocratic Sinhalese community’s plans to oust the Tamil king Sri Wickrama Rajasinhe go awry, the men go into hiding, while their wives are forced to marry men from the Rodiya community – a lower caste group at the bottom of the social ladder – with tumultuous results. Working with a wide palette that ranges from historical drama to nuanced and intimate storytelling, Vinthanage crafts a deeply empathetic film that is simultaneously heart-wrenching and hopeful.

“Our nation went through three decades of a brutal civil war waged in the name of racial and religious identities. Since the struggle to uphold identities has not stopped in post-war Sri Lanka, I believe it is important to raise the question, ‘Is identity more important than the sanctity of life?’” – Prasanna Vithanage, Filmmaker