By Dimithri Wijesinghe
The Sri Lankan short film Vikaari, co-directed by Sandun Seneviratne, won “Best Short Film” at Screamfest Horror Film Festival 2020 on 15 August.
The event is America’s largest and longest-running horror movie festival, awarding the year’s top genre movies, filmmakers, actors, and screenplays.
Vikaari was the first Sri Lankan film to be screened at the festival and stars Sri Lankan actors Ashan Dias and Bimsara Premaratne, along with British actor Richard de Roberts. Produced as a science fiction short film, the story draws attention towards children born with the same type of deformity around the world and the fears that result from it.
We spoke to Seneviratne, who wrote, produced, and directed the film together with fellow London Film Academy alumni Charlie Bray. Seneviratne shared that while he has been making short films for nearly two decades now, Vikaari was his second big project, with the first being a web series he created, titled Seer: Death Sight and available for viewing on Facebook.
He shared that it has been an incredible honour to be screened at Screamfest, especially considering the significance of the festival for genre films; the festival is where American supernatural horror franchise Paranormal Activity was discovered.
“All credit must go to my collaborators,” said Seneviratne, as he spoke about the filming and production process for Vikaari. He said it was actually filmed five years ago and spent many years in post-production.
Stating that he has always aspired to make a Hollywood storytelling style-inspired film of that very same calibre, and as they did not quite have the funding to have the level of visual effects (VFX) bigger films tend to have, he said that instead of compromising on the quality, they decided to ask for favours from their friends in the industry who agreed to work on the project in their off hours, which resulted in the process taking a very long time. “This lockdown period was actually when we finally managed to finish the project,” he added.
Seneviratne also shared that some of the topics they addressed in the story, such as racism and the cost of prejudice, while always issues at hand, did not garner this level of attention back when he started to film the project as it does now in 2020; the awareness of social issues has allowed the film to age quite well and remain relevant.
The filming of Vikaari was done primarily in Sri Lanka, leaving a few scenes which were shot in the UK, and Seneviratne shared that the cast was pretty much a no-brainer; he went with his long-time friend Dias and Premaratne, with whom he had worked before. As for the child actors, he shared that he held an extensive auditioning process through which he came across the wonderful cast of young actors – Nethuli Adihetti, Nithila Goonetilleke, and Thinuga Adihetti.
We also spoke to both Dias and Premaratne. The latter shared her filming experience with Seneviratne, stating that while they could not ever have said for sure that it would be an award-winning film at its inception, she always knew it was going to be special. She said that the recognition is owed to the film’s subject matter and the fact that Seneviratne did not compromise on his vision despite the obstacles.
She said they filmed largely in front of a green screen and with a lot to be done in post-production and they too did not have a clear picture of the end product. Regardless, she said that it was an enjoyable process as they were all friends working together – both directors knew what they wanted but they were gentle about directing and were very easy to work with.
Premaratne also shared that most actors would prefer for their work to come out as soon as possible and that she too would often text Seneviratne and ask whether it is actually getting released. However, she added that she is glad the director did not compromise on his creative vision and persevered and utilised the full-time frame he required to put the project together.
Dias also shared his thoughts about the project, stating: “Working in a sci-fi genre was definitely a new and unique experience, because this sort of genre has not been common in Sri Lankan cinema so far. Having said that, we always ask, ‘why not?’ And Sandun Seneviratne finally answered that question when he took this leap of faith.
“Sandun has always been someone who questions the norm and aims for pinnacles that we as Sri Lankans usually wouldn’t dare to. I knew this about him, as I knew him before this, and I knew his background and where and how he did his professional training, so I knew this was going to be something special. It was indeed an eye-opening and rewarding experience to work on this project with him.”
On a closing note, both actors and the director shared their thoughts on the Sri Lankan cinema industry. Seneviratne stated that he himself has an ultimate goal to make a feature-length film – a sci-fi action film with an international cast that is Sri Lankan and also from the Asian region and all over the world. He said Sri Lanka is a small country and therefore it is difficult to sustain a large film industry.
While art house films are doing very well here, commercial cinema is yet to make its mark, but he believes that the future of cinema is progressively more democratised as people are realising it is a lot cheaper now to make a film, and similarly, it is easier now to reach an audience without a big production company behind you. “Making a good film is not about the budget, the big stars, but the type of story you are telling,” he said.
“There is a lot that needs to be fixed in our local industry if we are to at least ‘sustain’ it in this age of digitalisation and the internet. But I feel like we cannot achieve any sort of progress until the older generation of filmmakers relinquish their monopoly and work towards establishing a system where everybody is equal and has equal opportunities if they have the talent. I hope this win Sandun Seneviratne brought to Sri Lanka will in some way motivate this line of thinking, so we can resurrect a dying industry,” Dias said.
Premaratne also added that the future is definitely promising. With Netflix and a lot of animated features and such making their way into the mainstream, it has opened up way more avenues for youths to explore their art, and Sri Lanka undoubtedly has the potential. Especially when it comes to genre films and the future, all you really need is a vision, a good concept, and a strong drive, and we are sure to see some exciting things ahead, she said.
