The 39th edition of the Fribourg International Film Festival (FIFF), specifically its New Territory section, offers a compelling and sensitive exploration of today's cinema from Sri Lanka. This island nation, southeast of India, still bears the scars of a 26-year-long civil war (1983–2009), and yet the stories that local filmmakers, both at home and in exile, bring to the screen are laced with humour, clarity and optimism. The line-up this year has been curated by Keerthigan Sivakumar, with input from fellow Sri Lankan directors. The nine features and four shorts will be screened at FIFF from 21st to 30th March 2025, with Sri Lankan filmmakers in attendance.
The end of British colonial rule in 1948 ushered in not only an economic and cultural revival in Sri Lanka but also political upheaval, ethnic tensions and armed conflict, most notably the civil war that tore the country apart for decades. Although the rift between the Sinhalese and Tamil communities remains, as recent history shows, Sri Lankan cinema holds out hope that reconciliation will ultimately prevail. FIFF invited director Keerthigan Sivakumar, who was born in 1988 in Jaffna and came to Switzerland as a refugee in 2009, to curate the New Territory section. He sought the input of other filmmakers to ensure that the programme fully captures the diversity of Sri Lankan cinematic output over the last 10 years and gives equal weight to works by Sinhalese and Tamil directors. According to Sivakumar, he chose "films that expose the murky influence of the West on Sri Lanka, as well as the complex religious and cultural belief structures of its different communities, poverty and discrimination, solidarity and love. Although much of Sri Lankan cinema focuses on exposing the wounds and traumas left by one of the most protracted civil wars in recent Asian history, it is also good at showing that its range extends far beyond war."
This is especially evident in the mischievous and biting comedy Tentigo (2023), which won the Special Jury Prize at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in 2023. It was this film which cemented the idea of the FIFF's artistic director to devote a section of the FIFF programme to Sri Lanka's flourishing film scene. Tentigo could not be more different from the war-heavy stories that audiences have come to expect from Sri Lankan filmmakers. It is a refreshingly funny tale involving two grief-stricken sons who discover that their deceased father died with a full erection and scrabble to solve this embarrassing problem before the wake.
Little Jaffna, Lawrence Valin (2024)
The line-up also includes pictures shot in Sri Lanka, such as the poignant Dark Days of Heaven (2023), as well as films by directors in exile. There is the Scorsese-style thriller Little Jaffna (2024), set in the Tamil quarter of Paris during the final days of the Sri Lankan civil war, as well as the biographical documentary Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. (2018) about the British Tamil rapper M.I.A., who uses the video diaries she had recorded over years to recount her exile and the racism she suffered as a refugee.
The four shorts on the programme, including Le Gap (2024) directed by the section's curator, also offer intimate, heartfelt portrayals of the diaspora which are infused with both a sense of fascination and incomprehension.
Le Gap, Keerthigan Sivakumar (2024)
Thierry Jobin, the artistic director of FIFF, agrees that there are two distinct but parallel trends in Sri Lankan cinema: "Filmmaking is happening as much inside the country as it is in exile. The two critically assess one another, complement each other, and together are writing a common history. The Festival sees this section as a space for reconciliation and tolerance, hence the inclusion of films by directors from both the Sinhalese and Tamil communities, who already live side by side in Sri Lanka, as they also do in Switzerland." The FIFF audience is invited to explore a country through the stories told by those who remain and those who have left. These individual voices ultimately intersect to paint a sincere, hopeful and kaleidoscopic portrait of a country in search of healing.
Events involving the Sri Lankan diaspora in Fribourg are also planned as part of FIFForum. Thierry Jobin reached out to the community, who were very enthusiastic about the idea of (re-)discovering Sri Lankan cinema and introducing local audiences to it, "The communities are looking to meet up, primarily in Fribourg. FIFF will be a fantastic place for a reunion." The Festival will also host two roundtables on Sunday 23rd March. The first, Faire du cinéma sur le Sri Lanka, will give voice to Sri Lankan directors attending the event. The second, which has been jointly organised with the University of Fribourg's Department of Contemporary History, will hear directly from Tamil and Sinhalese families living in Fribourg.
NEW TERRITORY: SRI LANKA
Feature Films
- Matangi/Maya/M.I.A., Steve Loveridge, 2018
- Soundless Dance, Pradeepan Raveendran, 2019
- Peacock Lament, Sanjeewa Pushpakumara, 2022
- Dark Days of Heaven, Mathi Sutha, 2023
- Paradise, Prasanna Vithanage, 2023
- Sand, Visakesa Chandrasekaram, 2023
- Tentigo, Ilango Ramanathan, 2023
- Little Jaffna, Lawrence Valin, 2024
- Your Touch Makes Others Invisible, Rajee Samarasinghe, 2025
Short Films
- Le Gap, Keerthigan Sivakumar, 2024
- Crisis, Soban Velrajah, 2024
- Island Story, Bavaneedha Loganathan, 2025
- Anushan, Vibirson Gnanatheepan, 2023
FIFForum roundtables
- Faire du cinéma sur le Sri Lanka with Sri Lankan directors
- A roundtable with Sri Lankan families living in Fribourg (in partnership with the University of Fribourg)
Cultural projects
- A number of events with a Sri Lankan focus will be held between 10 and 20 March 2025 in the Fribourg Centre shopping centre.
The full programme of the 39th FIFF (21h–30th March) will be unveiled on Wednesday 5th March 2025.
Your Touch Makes Others Invisible, Rajee Samarasinghe (2025)
