Sanjeewa wins Nipkow fellowship in Germany
Internationally acclaimed filmmaker Sanjeewa Pushpakumara has been awarded with a film development fellowship by Nipkow Art Residence in Germany.
The fellowship will provide Sanjeewa to spend two months in Berlin getting technical guidance and instruction for development of the screenplay of his third and newest feature film. Together with his expert screenplay writers Sanjeewa is to complete his screenplay in Germany.
The film will be a joint production with Dialog Axiata.
Started in Berlin in 1992, Nipkow is an initiative to support filmmakers and journalists to develop their works in cinema and journalism. Sanjeewa is the first Sri Lankan to win Nipkow Art Residence fellowship in Germany.
Sanjeewa started his feature film career with ‘Flying Fish’ (Igilena Maluwo) in 2011. Produced with the financial support of the Hubert Bals Fund of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), the controversy-ridden film participated at a number international film festivals and won rave reviews.
His second feature ‘Davena Vihagun’ (Burning Birds) won a number of international film awards including the Special Jury Prize (the second place) at the 17th Tokyo FILMeX International Film Festival and won the Best Picture and Young Jury Prize at 15th Geneva International Film Festival (FIFDH). In addition, its main actress Anoma Janadari won the Best Actress award in Asian World Film Festival 2017 in Los Angeles for her role in ‘Devana Vihagun’.
The film was premiered in the New Currents Competition of Busan Film Festival in Korea and it was also became the first ever Sri Lankan film to be nominated for Ingmar Bergman Award at Gothenburg Film Festival in Sweden. The film has been invited more than 25 International Film Festivals including Locarno, Munich and Pune.
Written by Sanjeewa himself, the film reflects a story behind a noble mother and a daughter who sacrifices and dedicates their lives to bring up a better livelihood to their children and siblings after the killing of her husband and father by an unknown armed group.