The Davena Vihagun (aka Burning Birds) written and directed by Sanjeewa Pushpakumara has been nominated for the Best Film at the 15th International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights in Geneva (FIFDH). The film will compete for the award alongside seven films, including, Academy (Oscar) awards and Golden Globe award winning Moonlight, which won the best film. The festival will be held from March 10 to 19. The Swiss premiere will be on March 12 in Geneva.
Davena Vihagun, has also been nominated for the best film of 27th African Asian Latin American Film Festival. The festival will be held from March 19 to 27 in Milano.
Davena Vihagun was previously invited to be screened at the 46th International Film Festival Rotterdam, where the film won the hearts and minds of both, the public and the critics.
The film ranked No 17 out of 175 films of official selections. Parallel to the Rotterdam festival Davena Vihagun was nominated for the prestigious Ingmar Bergman Award at the 40th Goteborg International Film Festival (Gutenberg) in Sweden.
Burning Birds world premiered at the 21st Busan International Film Festival in South Korea last October, where it was nominated for the Best Film of the Festival.
Last November, the film won the Special Jury Prize (the second prize) of 17th Tokyo FILMeX International Film Festival in Japan.
Burning Birds is Sanjeewa’s second film followed by the controversial Flying Fish (Igillena Maluwo).The film is a co-production between Sri Lanka, France, Netherlands and Qatar. The film project was selected for the 2012- 2013, 25th Cinéfondation Residence Program of the Cannes Film Festival in Paris.
The script was selected for The Jerusalem International Film Labin 2014 for advanced script development.
During the seven month period Sanjeewa developed the script at the Jerusalem International Film Lab in Israel. At the lab Sanjeewa worked with one of the world’s renowned script advisers, Jacques Akchoti (France).
Burning Birds was produced by Antonin Dedet & Dominique Welinski (France) on behalf of Neon Production and Sanjeewa Pushpakumara on behalf of Sapushpa Expressions ( Sri Lanka).
The International sales agent of Burning Birds is Film Republic in London. The main cast include; Mahendra Perera, Samanalee Fonseka, Anoma Janadari, Chandani Seneviratne, Leonie Kotalawala, Pubudu Chathuranga, Priyanka Samaraweera, Dasun Pathirana, Tissa Bandaranayaka, Shyam Fernando, Dharshan Dharmaraj, Sanjeewa Dissanayake and Dharmapriya Dias. Others who contributed immensely include, cinematographer- Kalinga Deshapriya, editors – Ajith Ramanayake and Katharina Wartena, make up – Priyantha Dissanayaka , art director – Piyathissa Akurambada, costume designer – Ajantha Alahakoon, sound engineers - Nicolas D’halluin and Aruna Priyantha Kaluarchchi, colour grading – Elie Akoka, Assistant Director - Aruna Thilakarathne, Second Assistant Director - Niroshan Edirimanna and Production Manager- Harold Karunathilaka.