A One To One Chat With A Second Time Bafta Nominee

• Asitha Amarasekera

By Sumaya Samarasinghe

Asitha Amarasekera

Q: You were the first Sri Lankan to win a BAFTA award in the short film category in 2007, and now you are once again nominated, how do you feel a second time around?

A; Very small, proud and bewildered. The first time we were nominated, everything was very new and thrilling. A rollercoaster ride for a bunch of filmmakers who made a film in a weekend and had a blast doing it. This time, it’s a bit different in that I feel I can build on it for the future. The nomination is both huge recognition within the filmmaking industry for my team and the film itself, and it is also a magnet for acquiring financial and artistic backing for the next projects. I guess I feel like this because I have concrete feature scripts ready now that I want to get moving on. I love the short film form and will always make them when the story dictates, but the story ideas in my head are growing in size and need a longer format. I suppose a second nomination gives me more confidence to continue, and take even more risks.

Q: Last year, you came to the Galle Literary Festival to present your first book: Wedding Gifts And Other Presents”; had you already finished directing “14″? How do you manage to be so consistent with your work?

A: Actually we’d already made 14 before the literary festival and it had been on the festival circuit for a few months. I battle with discipline all the time, so I jot down ideas in a little book whenever something hits me, creating a pool to choose from when I have time to myself. I still have my day job in London which is quite technical requiring a different part of my brain to kick in, so on evenings and weekends I engage the other side. And I try to walk to everywhere. For me it’s important to have some time alone every day to think about these ideas, what to cook for dinner etc.

Q: Can you tell us what 14 is about? How long did you take to shoot the film and edit it?

14 is about the cycle of abuse within a family, seen through the eyes of the three people involved. There isn’t much dialogue, and yet the film is all about communicating. I was experimenting with narrative in the way that a film can present clues to something that has happened in the past, providing information for the viewer to piece together the story themselves. Abuse is a remarkably complicated issue, and for us to investigate it through film, we had to take a huge risk in the way it was shot and edited. We spent two days shooting in one location, four days on the picture cut, then three weeks on the sound edit. After the shoot I took a month off away from the film to get some distance, which helps a lot when dealing with this kind of subject matter. Despite the heavy topic, my team (the same as on Do Not Erase) made things as comfortable as possible, especially for the actors. Working with the same team was pivotal to the realisation of the film for me.

Q: As cliche as this question may seem, what is your next step? A full length  feature?

I’ve just completed a feature film script set in Tijuana, Mexico about people trafficking which was selected at the Berlin Film Festival Talent Project Market last year. We’re trying to find a suitable director for this film at the moment. And a feature script I’m writing and hope to direct in the north of England has been selected in the same market this year, so I return to Berlin shortly to look for funding. I’m hoping BAFTA nomination number two will help at least get me a cup of coffee with a producer.