The latest Sinhala language movie Thundenek or ‘Her. Him. The Other’ produced by the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation and directed by Asoka Handagama, PrasannaVithanage and Vimukthi Jayasundara, will be screened in cinemas islandwide soon.
A special show and a discussion of the movie for government officers, Security Forces and police officers was held this week at the National Film Cooperation.
Thundenek is a feature film by the three renowned directors where the characters reflect on the social impact of the three-decade war in Sri Lanka. The discussion following the special screening was attended by Handagama and Vithanage.
Handagama said, “For many years we were planning to do a film not on the war, but on the impact of the war. There are still unresolved issues and we wanted to make a movie that would prompt a dialogue on such issues.” He said that the premiere had received positive feedback with requests from both Sinhala and Tamil communities to show the movie to their communities. Some had offered to organise public screenings which received great interest with engaging post-screening discussions.
“Our film is about the aftermath of the war,” Vithange said. “The war created many stories - stories without closure. All three stories in Thundenek are about people who are looking for closure.” He said that the Sri Lankan people could easily relate to the polarisation of communities and thus the title ‘Her. Him. The Other’. “For the Sinhala people, Tamils have become ‘the other’ and vice versa. The same goes for Muslims.”
Vithanage said that no matter the audience, if the emotions conveyed were truthful, it would be well received. All the Tamil-speaking actors for Vithanage’s film were from Jaffna. His team conducted a two-day workshop for 25 aspiring filmmakers.
The movie has already been invited to and highlighted at international film festivals and the public release in cinemas will take place soon.