Burning Birds

2016 Sri Lankan film

Burning Birds
දැවෙන විහඟුන්

Directed by| Sanjeewa Pushpakumara
Written by| Sanjeewa Pushpakumara
Produced by| Antonin Dedet
Sanjeewa Pushpakumara Renuka Balasooriya
Starring| Anoma Janadari
Samanalee Fonseka
Mahendra Perera
Dasun Pathirana
Cinematography| Kalinga Deshapriya Vithanage
Edited by| Ajith Ramanayake
Katharina Wartena
Music by| R. Abaji
Philip David Sheppard

Production
companies

Neon Production (France)
Sapushpa Expressions (Sri Lanka)

Release dates

* October 2016 (2016-10) (Busan)
* 29 June 2018 (2018-06-29) (Sri Lanka)

Running time

| 104 minutes
Countries| Sri Lanka
France
Qatar
The Netherlands
Language| Sinhala

Burning Birds (දැවෙන විහඟුන්) is a 2016 Sri Lankan adult drama film written and directed by Sanjeewa Pushpakumara and co-produced by Pushpakumara and Antonin Dedet. It stars Anoma Janadari and Samanalee Fonseka with Mahendra Perera and Shyam Fernando. The music was composed by R. Abaji and Philip David Sheppard.[1] The film was premiered in the main competition of the 21st Busan International Film Festival in 2016.

The film was released in Sri Lanka on 29 June 2018[2] by the National Film Corporation of Sri Lanka through its Rithma circuit cinemas.[3] The director's cut[4] was released from 26 July 2018 to 9 August 2018 only in three theaters - Regal Colombo, Lido Borella and Skylite Malabe, under the "Adults Only" banner.[5]

The film successfully passed 50 days in theaters.[6] It is the 1307th Sri Lankan film in the Sinhala cinema.[7] With many awards at Derana Film Awards 2019, the film was re-screened in few theaters for a limited engagement including Savoy Premier at 1.30 pm.[8]

## Cast

[edit]

* Samanalee Fonseka as Wasana
* Anoma Janadari as Kusum
* Mahendra Perera as owner of slaughter house
* Chandani Seneviratne as Sumana
* Leonie Kotelawala as mother-in-law/grandmother
* Pubudu Chathuranga as owner of brothel
* Thissa Bandaranayaka as principal
* Shyam Fernando as paramilitary leader
* Sanjeewa Dissanayake as father
* Dasun Pathirana as Bus driver
* Dharmapriya Dias as Police inspector
* D.B. Gangodathenna as Old man at brothel
* Darshan Dharmaraj as animal slaughter

## Awards and nominations

[edit]

* 15th International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights in Geneva (FIFDH)- (Winner) The Best Film (Grand Prix)
* 15th International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights in Geneva (FIFDH)- (Winner) Youth Jury Award[9]
* 21st Busan International Film Festival, 2016 – New Currents Competition - (Nominated) The Best Film
* 17th International Film Festival Tokyo Filmex, 2016 – (Winner) Special Jury Prize (the 2nd Prize)
* 46th International Film Festival Rotterdam, 2017 – Bright Future Competition
* 40th Gothenburg Film Festival, 2017 – Ingmar Bergman Competition -(Nominated) The Ingmar Bergman Award
* 27th African, Asian and Latin American Film Festival in Milan-(Nominated)-The Best Film
* 35th Munich International Film Festival
* 32nd Cinema Jove, Valencia International Film Festival (in Competition)
* 3rd Valletta Film Festival
* 5th Lake Como Film Festival (in Competition) - Special Jury Mention (Student Jury)
* 70th Locarno Film Festival
* 14th Anonimul Film Festival (In Competition)
* Asian Film Festival Barcelona
* 13th Kazan International Film Festival, Russia
* 3rd Jafna International Cinema Festival, Sri Lanka
* 5th South Asian Film Festival in Paris - FFAST
* 3rd Asian World Film Festival in Los Angeles - (Winner) Best Actress
* 12th Jogja-Netpac International Film Festival, Indonesia (in competition)
* 16th Pune International Film Festival, India (World Cinema)
* 8th Yashwant International Film Festival, Mumbai, 2018
* 9th SAARC Film Festival ( in Competition) - Best Actress & Best Editor (winners)
* Presidential Film Awards (2019),Sri Lanka - Best Film, Best Director, Best Script, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress
* Derana TV Film Awards (2019), Sri Lanka - Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Make-up

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Submission for the 2017 BIFF is now opened". Biff.kr. Archived from the original on 30 July 2017. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
\- "Dewena Wihagun - Burning Birds". National Film Corporation. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
\- "Human rights film festival - winners". Euronews. 21 March 2017. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
\- "'Burning Birds' wins best film in Geneva". Sunday Times. Sri Lanka. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
2. ^ "Davena Vihagun flying tomorrow". Sarasaviya. Archived from the original on 5 July 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
3. ^ "'Burning Birds' in the air". Sunday Times. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
4. ^ "'Davena Vihagun' Director's cut now on". Sunday Times. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
5. ^ "'Burning Birds' director's ut". Facebook. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
6. ^ "'Burning birds' passes 50 days". Sunday Times. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
7. ^ "Sri Lanka Cinema History". National Film Corporation of Sri Lanka. Archived from the original on 23 August 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
8. ^ "Burning Birds' back in theatres". Sunday Times. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
9. ^ "FIFDH Award මූන් ලයිට් සමඟ දැවෙන විහඟුන් තරඟයට". Sarasaviya. Retrieved 11 March 2017.

## External links

[edit]

* Burning Birds at IMDb
* "Burning Birds". Iffr.com. 12 January 2017. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
* "Burning Birds". Festival.giff.se. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
* Schilling, Mark (26 November 2016). "Zhang Hanyi's 'Life After Life' Wins Tokyo Filmex Top Prize". Variety. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
* "Burning Birds". Dohafilminstitute.com. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
* "'Burning Birds': Busan Review". Screendaily.com. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
* "Film Burning Birds - Neon Production". Neoncinema.com. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
* "'Burning Birds' ('Davena Vihagun'): Film Review". Hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
* සම්මානනීය දැවෙන විහඟුන් අධ්‍යක්ෂ සංජීව පුෂ්පකුමාර
* දැවෙන විහඟුන් ළඟදී පියඹයි
* වැන්දඹු මවකගේ ජීවන අරගලය
* සංක්‍රාන්තික මොහොත සහ දැවෙන විහඟුන් ..