Prasanna Vithanage

Udaya Prasanna Vithanage (ප්‍රසන්න විතානගේ) (born 14 March 1962, Sri Lanka) is widely regarded as one of the most talented and influential filmmakers in South Asia.

He is known for thought-provoking films that often deals with social, political and cultural issues.

His films have received numerous awards accolades, both locally and internationally and have been praised for their innovative storytelling.

He has battled against the censorship in Sri Lanka and worked as an educator of cinema who has conducted many Master classes in the subcontinent for young filmmakers and enthusiasts.

Prasanna Vithanage is also an activist and has been involved in human rights and peace initiatives.

Prasanna Vithanage became involved in theatre after leaving school.

He translated and directed George Bernard Shaw's play, Arms and the Man, in 1986.

In 1991, he translated and directed a production of Italian Dario Fo's Trumpets and Raspberries.

In 1991, he directed his first film, Sisila Gini Gani (Ice of Fire).

It won nine OCIC (Sri Lanka) awards, including Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress.

In 1996 he released his second feature Anantha Rathriya (Dark Night of the Soul) which he wrote and directed.

It was based on Leo Tolstoy's last novel Resurrection.

It was shown at several international film festivals and won a Jury's Special Mention in the First Pusan International Film Festival.

The film won all the main awards at the 1996 Sri Lanka Film Critics' Forum Awards (affiliated with FIPRESCI), including awards for Most Outstanding Film, Best Director and Best Screenwriter.

In 1997 his third feature, Purahanda Kaluwara (Death on a Full Moon Day), which he wrote and directed, was produced by NHK (Japanese Broadcasting Corporation).

It won the Grand Prix at the Amiens Film Festival.

Initially banned in Sri Lanka by the minister in charge of film industry, it was released after a year long legal battle.

It was released by the ruling of the Supreme Court.

It has become one of the most commercially successful films in Sri Lanka.

Pawuru Walalu (Walls Within) was also released that year.

It won the Best Actress Award for Nita Fernando in her role as Violet, at the 1998 Singapore International Film Festival.

It won ten of eleven awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, at the Sri Lanka Film Critics' Forum Awards.

In 2003 Vithanage completed Ira Madiyama (August Sun) as his fifth film.

It won many international awards and was featured prominently in the world festival circuit.

In 2008, Vithanage co-produced the hit film Machan a comedy about a group of working class con artists posing as a handball team, directed by Uberto Pasolini, who produced The Full Monty.

Machan premiered at the 65th Venice Film Festival in 2008.

It won 11 international awards.

That year Vithanage's sixth feature film as director, "Akasa Kusum" (Flowers of the Sky) premiered at a festival in Busan.

It was screened at more than 30 film festivals and won numerous international awards.

A Tamil-dubbed version of Akasa Kusum titled Aagaya Pookkal was screened in Jaffna on 1 April 2011.

It was the only movie premiere of a Sinhala film director to have been held in Jaffna during the past 30 years.

In 2012 his 7th feature film, Oba Nathuwa Oba Ekka (With You, Without You), had its world premier in the "World Greats" section at the 39th Montreal International Film Festival.

Written by Prasanna, Oba Nathuwa Oba Ekka is adapted from a novella by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (A Gentle Creature, a.k.a. The Meek One) and set in post-war Sri Lanka.

On the international festival run, by late 2013 the film had won 5 international awards, including "best picture" in France and Italy.

It earned a nomination for best picture at the 2013 Asia Pacific Screen Awards in Australia.

On 30 March 2013, Vithanage founded the 'Prasanna Vithanage Academy of Acting' in Sri Lanka, for aspiring acting students.

2015 saw his first and only documentary feature Vithanage, titled "Usaviya Nihandai" (Silence in the Courts), an investigative docudrama chronicling the events followed, after a Wife of a robbery suspect was being raped by the presiding magistrate of the case and an alternative newspaper editor exposing that case, engaging in a prolonged legal battle that extended into a probable impeachment of chief justice of the country, but eventually accused parties getting away scot-free while denying justice to the victim.

When asked "Why did you choose this story to explore social justice in Sri Lanka?, Prasanna Vithanage replied saying, "The fairness of carrying out social justice is best judged by how judicial branch will act when one of their members is accused.

My goal was to go into depth and unearth the real story from the original sources and a re-enactment of those incidents in the form of a docudrama." After its world premiere at Sakhalin International Film Festival in Russia in Fall 2015, Usaviya Nihandai had a successful theatrical run in Sri Lanka, despite being initially banned from public screening by the Colombo District Court of Sri Lanka. This marked the second instance where one of Prasanna Vithanage's movies was banned from public screening. In both cases Prasanna won the court ruling which overturned the initial ban of both movies, which ultimately resulted in successful theatrical runs in Sri Lanka.

Prasanna Vithanage embarked on his dream project ‘Gaadi – Children of the Sun’.