- Vimukthi Jayasundara
Vimukthi Jayasundara was born in Sri Lanka in 1977. He studied at Mahinda College in Galle (Sri Lanka), then took part in several political and artistic movements.
He became an author, screenwriter and film critic, and made three short films before the age of 17. In 1998, he left his first love behind and joined an international advertising agency as a copywriter, but three years later, despite his professional success in advertising, he chose to return to cinema. In 2001, he directed a 30-minute documentary experimenting with black and white, Land of Silence, about the victims of the civil war.
The film premiered at the FID in Marseille in 2002, and has since been shown at numerous other festivals. In 2001, Vimukthi Jayasundara was awarded a scholarship to study film at the Studio National d’Arts Contemporains Le Fresnoy, Tourcoing.
His short film Empty for Love, selected at the Cannes Film Festival in 2003, was screened at over 50 festivals worldwide, and won several awards including Best Director at the Novo Mesto International Short Film Festival (Slovenia) in 2003. He was also selected by the Cannes Film Festival’s Cinéfondation to take part in its residency programs, where he wrote the first version of his first feature The Forsaken Land, co-produced by Arte France Cinéma.
The screenplay for The Forsaken Land was named Best Cinemart Project at the 2004 Rotterdam International Film Festival, and won the Prince Claus Film Scholarship. The film was presented in the “Un certain regard” section at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, where it was awarded the Caméra d’Or.
Filmography:
Features
2025: Spying Stars
2015: Sunlanga Gini Aran (Dark In The White Light)
2011: Chatrak (Mushrooms)
2009: Ahasin Wetei (Between Two Worlds)
2005: The Forsaken Land
Shorts
2019: Instantaneous
2018: Thundenek (segment HIM)
2012: Lumière Dans L’Espace Respiratoire Jaune
2003: Empty For Love
2002: The Land of Silence