The 19th edition of the International Film Festival of Asian Cinema (FICA) ended a few days ago in Vesoul, France with a Jury presided by Indonesian film director Garin Nugroho awarding renowned Sri Lankan film director Prasanna Vithanage with the Cylco D’Or for his 7th and most recent film “ With You, without you” ( Oba Nethuwa Oba Ekka)
Martine et Jean-Marc Thérouanne, Director and Deputy Director of FICA announced in a special press communiqué: “We share Prasanna Vithanage’s joy and happiness. We have known him for the past sixteen years since we first met him in 1997 at the International Film Festival in Fribourg. It is his third participation at the FICA competition in Vesoul. We appreciate his immense talent.”
Prassana Vithanage was received at the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Paris for a felicitation meeting led by Ms.W.S Perera, Chargé d’Affaires, ensuing in an interactive discussion on his cinematographic experience with the members of the staff. Prasanna Vithanage analyzed the many aspects of his latest film “With you, without you”, an aesthetic and poetic composition set in post-conflict Sri Lanka portraying the love, suffering and tragedy of conjugal life of a newly-wed couple. He considers the NETPAC Award (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) which was also granted for his film this year as an encouragement and a means to promote Sri Lankan cinema in a broader international arena. This film concludes Prasanne Vithanage’s trilogy on war
(Purahanda Kaluwara- Darkness on a Full Moon Day-1997 and Ira Mediyama- August Sun-2003)
Embassy of Sri Lanka
Paris
15th February 2013
