Award-winning short film ‘The Apartment’ by Sahan Fernando, premiered to the public on 22 July 2022. As a film, ‘The Apartment’ has received many accolades. Its numerous recognitions include the 11th Agenda 14 Short Film Festival, the Independent Shorts Awards, and official selection at the Jaffna International Cinema Festival 2021, and having amassed over 15,000 views on YouTube as of now, Fernando’s directorial debut has proven to be quite the success.
Some of its bigger achievements include winning Best Drama Short, Bronze Award (March 2022) at the Independent Shorts Awards and most notably, it won the coveted Jury Award for Best Film at the Agenda 14 Short Film Festival, where it also won the Most Outstanding Performance for the film’s protagonist played by Bandhuka Premawardhana, and the Special Jury Mention for Editing for the film’s Co-Director, Director of Photography, and Editor Dulina Chandrasiri.
‘The Apartment’ is an 18-minute short film featuring the protagonist, played by Premawardhana, who is the only character to appear on screen while the others are heard only on his mobile speakerphone. The main character makes his way down an unknown motorway headed to an undisclosed destination, painstakingly going through the nuts and bolts of his various problems.
Written by Sahan Fernando, it borrows some story beats from the 2013 film titled ‘Locke,’ starring Tom Hardy and directed by Steven Knight. Regardless, the execution and the adapted tweaks to the narrative allow the film to stand alone as its own entity.
The film is incredibly well-paced, and the claustrophobic setting assisted by some skilled editing helps build tension which keeps the viewer intrigued throughout the full runtime despite there being absolutely no changes in the set, location, or even characters. It is entirely a one-man show but the men behind the curtain really pull it off.
Directors and actors
Brunch reached out to the film’s Co-Director and Editor Dulina Chandrasiri, who shed some light on the nature of the production. He shared that due to their relatively low budget, they had to utilise the tools they had to the maximum.
“We filmed the whole thing in one night – starting from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. on several parts of Marine Drive. We didn’t have any lighting equipment, so we utilised the street lights, using them to relay the character’s emotions,” Chandrasiri said, adding that they were forced to cut down on a lot of shots due to the rain.
Regardless, he noted that he was happy with the end result, adding that it was a difficult thing to do. “We don’t usually see many people shoot in actual moving cars. We set up a car rig and decided to just film it that way,” he said.
He also spoke of the editing of the film, stating that often when there were no other locations, scenes, or characters to cut to or from, editing was a more difficult process. “It is very jarring to cut in a sequence where things remain the same,” he noted. However, he said that he welcomed the challenge and was able to create a natural yet dynamic pace for the film through the editing.
Chandrasiri also shared that he felt that the content of the short film bridged a certain gap in Lankan cinema. He said that often in Sri Lankan films, it was the rural settings that were portrayed and rarely do we see Colombo culture, especially the middle class, depicted in a real and gritty manner.
There was some criticism about the film’s abrupt ending which leaves the film on a cliffhanger, and Chandrasiri jokingly addressed the comments, expressing that perhaps they would have an ‘Apartment 2’ which could be a chase film.
Brunch also spoke to the film’s actor Bandhuka Premawardhana about his experience working on the short, who expressed how proud he was to be a part of something that he believed to be unique.
Premawardhana, who is originally a theatre actor, shared that he was currently studying acting, and was learning the nuances of acting for film versus acting for theatre and the certain elements of an actor’s physicality, all of which he was able to draw from for his performance. However, he did mention that he felt a lot of pressure.
“We did rehearsals over Zoom and when the time came to film it, Sahan actually brought me to Colombo and put me up in a hotel room. We rehearsed for a short while and got to filming,” he said, adding that to see their efforts being appreciated as indicated by the ever-growing view count felt great.
Sharing his thoughts on the subject matter of the film, Premawardhana noted: “I think this new wave or movement started with ‘Koombiyo’. I might be wrong, but I think since then, Sri Lankan filmmakers have become bolder and they have looked to include more controversial content in their films and to talk about taboo topics.”
“Young filmmakers like Sahan dig deeper into Sri Lankan society, especially with the representation of class – this bilingual Colombo middle class,” he added.
Overall, ‘The Apartment’ is an interesting piece of film and it is certainly a new representation of Sri Lankan films and what Lankan filmmakers can do even with limited resources; a testament to what can be achieved through passion, creativity, and a drive to succeed.
The short film ‘The Apartment’ is available on YouTube:
The Apartment | Sri Lankan Short Film | 2021 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ivd_El80mo&ab_channel=SahanFernando
