‘Davena Vihagun’ Director’s cut now on
A special copy of Sanjeewa Pushpakumara’s ‘Davena Vihagun’ (Burning Birds), named as ‘Director’s Cut’ is now being screened under the adults only tag at 4.15 at Regal theatre, Colombo and Lido Borella.
The film with a few unedited scenes is screened following its original release by the National Film Corporation (NFC) through its Rithma circuit cinemas on June 29.
The controversy-ridden second film by Sanjeewa won a number of international awards including the Special Jury Prize (the second place) at the 17th Tokyo FILMeX International Film Festival, the Best Picture and Young Jury Prize at 15th Geneva International Film Festival (FIFDH) and the Best Actress award in Asian World Film Festival 2017 in Los Angeles for Anoma Janadari. It was also selected to the 17th place by receiving enthusiastic reviews from audience among 168 films at 46th Rotterdam International Film Festival in the Rotterdam.
The film was premiered in the New Currents Competition of Busan Film Festival in Korea and it also became the first ever Sri Lankan film to be nominated for Ingmar Bergman Award at Gothenburg Film Festival in Sweden. The film has been invited for more than 25 International Film Festivals including Locarno, Munich and Pune.
Written by Sanjeewa himself, the film reflects a story behind a noble mother and a daughter who sacrifice and dedicates their lives to bring up a better livelihood to their children and siblings after the killing of her husband and father by an unknown armed group.
A production with an international collaboration including France, Doha Qatar, Sri Lanka and the Netherlands, “Burning Birds” was produced by Antonin Dedet and Dominique Welinski on behalf of Neon Production in France and Sanjeewa Pushpakumara on behalf of Sapushpa Expressions in Sri Lanka.
Mahendra Perera, Samanalee Fonseka, Anoma Janadari, Chandani Senavirathne, Leonie Kotalawala, Pubudu Chathuranga, Priyanka Samaraweera, Dasun Pathirana, Tissa Bandaranayaka, Shyam Fernando, Dharshan Dharmaraj, Sanjeewa Dissanayake and Dharmapriya Dias are featured in the film.