A Film during a Pandemic
‘A Covid Honeymoon’ or ‘Covid Madhusamaya’ a film made by Udan Fernando will be screened at 6 pm from July 28 to 30 at the Goethe Institute in Colombo.
The second film direction by Udan, the short film stars up and coming stars Xavier Kanishka and Antoinette Thilakshini Ratnayake and veteran Chandana Prasad Suriyaarachchi.
With the tag line ‘ When a two- week honeymoon becomes a two- month ordeal’ the film revolves around a young Sri Lankan couple, with their hard- saved $ 1,000, fly to Singapore for a two- week honeymoon. They are clueless about Covid19. The outbreak spikes during their honeymoon and a lockdown gets imposed. The two- week honeymoon becomes a two- month ordeal with no flights to return and nowhere to stay and with only $ 30 left in hand.
The background to the film too is another interesting story. Having stayed three months in Singapore due to the closure of airports during the Covid 19 lock- down, the director, Udan Fernando, finally found a seat in a special repatriation flight to Colombo.On the eve of his departure, he heard a story that hits him like another virus. It is this story that preoccupies him throughout his two-week quarantine term at a government centre run by the military in a remote area in Eastern Sri Lanka. Amidst the constant chatter of the fellow quarantinemates in a small dormitory, the many upheavals at the quarantine centre and the difficult circumstances facing him, the director sought refuge in a corner bed that becomes his working, thinking and dining space. He conceptualised an imaginative along the basic true experience, that turns into a script. Upon being declared ‘Negative’, the director launches the production of the film. A film was created in a situation of overlapping crises.
Behind the screen director of photography is by Sameera Weerasekara, editor Lahiru Kanishka, colorist Marlon Jayans and make-up Mananuwan Rupasinghe. Sound engineering and music arrangement by Lahiru Kanishka and assistant director is Yoshitha Perera. Concept, script and direction of the film is by Udan Fernando.