‘Vishama Bhaga’ wins at OSTIA International Film Festival
Lalith Rathnayake’s ‘Vishama Bhaga’ (The Other Half) has won the Best Director award at the OSTIA International Film Festival in Rome, Italy.
The other films that were competed for the coveted award are from Iran, China, Bulgaria and Spain.
Four films had been selected for the final round of the Long Feature Competition and the Best Feature Film award was won by ‘Weightlessness’ from Iran.
Presented by Shraddha films, earlier ‘Vihama Bhaga’ won three awards at the Druk International Film Festival (DIFF) in Bhutan. The film won the Best Supporting Actor award for Jackson Anthony and Winner of the Best Educational
Film for Lalith Ratnayake. The film was also won one of the five Outstanding Achievement Awards.
Earlier the film was nominated for the Best Script Writer Award in the Asia New Talent Awards at the 22nd Shanghai
International Film festival.
‘Vishama Bhaga’ revolves around a young boy who lives with the pain of a poisoned environment and a society that doesn’t understand the value of an individual.
In a rural village in Sri Lanka, the family well becomes poisoned by agricultural chemicals. This subsequently leads to the untimely death of Ruwansiri’s father who develops chronic kidney disease, leaving his mother works to support the family. At school, he struggles to understand his lessons in a rigid educational system that cannot go beyond rote learning. As an escape from the toxic environment around him, Ruwansiri finds solace in music. Can his passion help him overcome his circumstances?
Filmmaker Laith Ratnayake is well-known for his earlier directions on mini screen and many of his dramas have won awards at number of teleaward ceremonies. They include ‘Thaththa’, ‘Awarna’, ‘Sonduru Wasanthaya’, ‘One way’, ‘Arungal’ and ‘Wet and Dry’.
The film stars Kaushalya
Fernando, Jackson Anthony, Hemasiri Liyanage, Pansilu Wicckremaratne, Pankaja Wickremaratne, Priyantha Sirikumara and Thilakshani Ratnayake.
Cinematographed by Palitha Perera, musical score of ‘Vishama Bhaga’ is written by C. Ruwanthilake and it is edited by Tissa Surendra.