Vimukthi's Profile

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Vimukthi Jayasundara was born in southern Sri Lanka. He began his cinematic career as a journalist, film critic and screenwriter. He attended the Institute for Film and Television in Pune, India.

After making The Land Of Silence, a documentary in black and white about the victims of civil war, which was selected by several festivals including Marseilles, Rotterdam and Berlin, Vimukthi Jayasundara enrolled as a post-graduate at Le Fresnoy-Studio National des Arts. Following his time at Fresnoy, he became a resident at the Cinéfondation of the Cannes Film Festival in 2003.

In 2005 he directed his first feature, Sulanga Enu Pinisa. It won the 2005 Cannes Film Festival Camera d'Or. He was the first Sri Lankan to win the prestigious award. The film is minimalist, constructed with sparse dialogue and a haunting tableaux of an isolated desolate rural landscape. The film is considered by many international critics to be one of the most important cinematic statements to emerge from Asia in the last ten years.

Fallen, his second feature film, was produced by Le Films Hatari Unlimited, and co-produced by Arte France Cinema. The cast includes Chinese actress Lou Hong, Steve de La Zilwa, Thusitha and Kaushalya Fernando. Cinematography was by Channa Deshapriya, and original music was by South Asia's Lakshman Joseph de Saram.