To give young filmmakers a national platform, a National Youth Film Festival Sri Lanka (NYFFSL) has been organised to mark the 75th anniversary of Independence. This is initiative was planned by President Ranil Wickremesinghe as part of his “National Youth Platform”.
The film festival will take place in August on the theme ‘Ape Aluth Katha’ (Our New Stories). The purpose of this project is to inspire students and the youth to pursue film and cinematography by teaching students the intricacies of and the creative and technical aspects of cinematography and by providing the Sri Lankan film industry a more appealing and modern face through the cinema.
Alongside this film festival, a national youth short film competition will be hosted as well. This competition will commence on the 20th of February, will be divided into two categories: schools and between the ages of 18 and 27. The deadline for accepting submissions is 23rd May. Students will be made aware of the competition through schools with the help of the Education Ministry.
The next generation of filmmakers will evaluate the candidates’ short films. Panel discussions, master classes, an awards ceremony, and a display of short and international films are all part of the schedule, the national coordinator and a fellow filmmaker Mahela Hettiarachchi said. While it is planned to make the youth film festival an annual event everyone including parents and teachers is expected to positively contribute to the process of helping the young people realize their aspirations.
The event will be promoted via Facebook, Twitter, Tiktok and Instagram.
He said that guidelines and the rules and regulations of the competition will be uploaded in the national youth platform website. Instructions on how to upload the films will also be available in the said website.
The winners of this competition will be awarded cash prizes and scholarships to study film making.
When asked why they thought now was the best time to hold the National Youth Film festival and get the youth inspired about film, he said, “I am also a movie maker as well and I know the state of our cinema industry now. There is a lack of original content and there is also a lack of midstream cinema. It is either over the top commercial or art house.
“We see Sri Lankan audiences often attracted to and inspired by Malayalam or Telangu films. We need to get our audiences excited about our films and to this we need to create new motivated and passionate film makers. It is also important give film a professional importance. We believe this can be achieved by creating brilliant directors and story tellers,” he said.