The Dawning of the Day

Returning to his community after defeat in the Sri Lankan civil war, a former Tamil rebel known only as "Him" faces hostility, suspicion and bitter recriminations in Asoka Handagama's beautifully elegiac meditation on the aftermath of war. (TIFF)

The film follows Dr. Manorani Saravanamuttu's relentless pursuit of justice after the tragic abduction and murder of her son, Richard de Zoysa, a journalist, writer, and human rights activist, in 1990.

This film indicated the formation of a cinematic language consisting of hyper-realistic images. The film won the award for Most Promising Director at the Critics' awards in 1994. It was also awarded Best Film, Best Director, and Best Screenplay at the 1998 OCIC awards.

When an alluring young undergrad becomes infatuated with her nearly retired professor, she stirs up the man's humdrum home life in a most unusual way.

While working as a mechanic to support a wife at home, Manju struggles to overcome every attempt made at discovering their assigned sex.

Set in a Northern border village during the Sri Lankan Civil War, a Sinhalese soldier meets a Tamil girl in the battlefield. The soldier leaves the army with the girl, and goes back to his village. The arrival of the Tamil girl into this predominantly Sinhala village causes a stir within the community, where they collectively decide to send her to a refugee camp. "This is My Moon" is a controversial examination of village life, where rural myths are shattered to reveal a deeper reality of a society torn apart by war.

A schoolboy and his friend are caught at school looking at pornography on the computer. Punished, they wrongly believe that the police are going to arrest them so they hide in an abandoned building and as the boys feel cornered, and fearing for their lives, one of them accidentally kills a prostitute with a dagger thinking she was a mugger...

An adolescent boy with no birth certificate denied access to free education. He overwhelms the whole country and achieves what he has been dreaming in daylight.

Three Sri Lankan filmmakers renowned for their internationally acclaimed films based on the Sri Lankan civil war, join in to make one film to express their views on post-war reality.

A renowned filmmaker receives a mysterious call from an old college mate in the middle of the night. Asandhimitta, whom he recalls as a large and voluptuous woman, asks him to make a film based on her life. She then confesses that she was recently involved in a triple homicide of three women and is taken into custody shortly afterwards. Intrigued, the filmmaker attempts to piece together her fragmented story for a film while Asandhimitta herself awaits her fate in a local prison.

Moon Hunt is filled with magic, mysticism, wisdom and wonder. The story moves so fast that a typical cinemagoer may find it difficult to follow it to understand the core message it delivers. But that is typical of all Handagama creations. Unless you dive into them several times, with patience in mind and heart, you cannot learn of what he says. But once it dawns on you, you will find them rare gems that have been carefully cut and polished for you to enjoy the hidden beauty in them. Till then, Handagama himself is magic, mystery, and wonder.