Title of the film A Letter to Lanka
Directed by Ilakkiya Mariya Simon
Language English, Tamil, Sinhala (English subtitles)
Country Sri Lanka, Norway
Year 2023
Duration 28 mins
Special Note Asian Premiere
PRINCIPAL CREW
WRITING, CINEMATOGRAPHY, EDITING, LOCATION SOUND, SOUND DESIGN & MIXING Ilakkiya Mariya Simon
PRINCIPLE CAST Sr. Jeyam
About the Film
A Letter To Lanka moves between memories of the civil war to the present political turmoil. Told through a poetic and personal journey of the filmmaker`s reconnection to land, soil and people, it invites the audiences into existential questions of belonging in a chaotic world. What does it mean to be at home in the world? What binds people together, and what can break them apart?
About the Director
Ilakkiya Mariya Simon has recently completed her Master of Visual Anthropology at UiT The Arctic University of Norway. She holds a BA in Social Anthropology from the University of Bergen, where she founded The Ethnographic Film Club. Prior to getting into anthropology, she was a teacher and movement practitioner from different disciplines and arts. Her experiences with movement and her Sri Lankan ancestry are what underpins her anthropological interest exploring existential themes of home, belonging, identity, and the environment. Ilakkiya is passionate about her intimate and fragmented relationship to Sri Lanka.
