Nationality Sri Lankan Known for visual arts and film | Name Malaka Dewapriya Role Film-maker | |
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Full Name Grardhiwasam Lindamulage Malaka Dewapriya Other names Malaka Devapriya, Malaka Devapriya Occupation visual artist and film maker Education University of Colombo, Ananda College Similar Siri Gunasinghe, Asoka Handagama, Lester James Peries | ||
Malaka Dewapriya (Sinhalese: මාලක දේවප්රිය, [maːləkə deːʋaprijə] is a Sri Lankan film maker, visual artist, Sinhala Radio Play writer, short film and video director .
Contents
- Biography
- Short films experience
- Full Length Films
- Radio Play Audio Collections
- Theatre
- Exhibitions
- Other works
- References
Biography
Born in Sri Lanka on 30 March 1979, Dewapriya graduated with a BA (International Relations and History) from the University of Colombo in 2005. After graduation, he received a scholarship for Video/Film/New Media at Akademie Schloss Solitude, in Stuttgart, Germany, from 2007 to 2008. He received an Asia Pacific Artists Fellowship, which partially supports his "short-term" residency as a visiting artist at the GoYang Art Studio, for visiting international and domestic artists, affiliated with the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Seoul, South Korea, from 2008–2009 ("5th period", "no. 671").
He first became involved in theatre in 1991 and has written several short plays. His later work engages a variety of the arts, including film, photography, theatre, and radio drama.
As a visual artist, he has created short films and video installations, several of which have been screened in international student competitions, other competitions, festivals and exhibitions.
He has also done some other writing and editorial work in Sri Lanka, both as a student and later, according to his personal Website and his "CV" at GoYang Art Studio, both of which list such work and also screenings of his short films.
Short films experience
While he was still a student at the University of Colombo, on 9 June 2004, his short film Life Circle (5:31) was screened in the juried international competition program at the 10th International Student Film Festival, held from 5 to 12 June 2004, in Tel Aviv, Israel. An interview conducted by Sachie Fernando and published in the Sri Lanka Sunday Times on 25 July 2004, observes: "This is the first time Sri Lankan Student’s film took part Recognized International film festival in history of Cinema of Sri Lanka." According to another interview with Dewapriya, conducted by Susitha R. Fernando and published in the Sri Lankan Sunday Times, on 27 July 2008, "This was the first time a Sri Lankan student's film was chosen in an internationally recognized festival. And the selection was a big step to re-establish short film culture in Sri Lanka." Life Circle was also selected for screenings at two other student film competitions outside Sri Lanka, in 2004 and 2005.
Another interview with Dewaprija, published in the Sri Lanka Sunday Times on 5 September 2004, points out that Exchange, a short experimental film whose context is "colonial Sri Lanka under the British rule," which he presented under the auspices of the University of Colombo, was "The first Sri Lankan entry" in the Tokyo Short Shorts Film Festival held in October 2004. It was screened in Program A: Short Shorts: Ghost Short Shorts.
His 30-minute film Transference won the Best "Silver TEN Award" in the Short Films category at the Mumbai International Sport Movies & TV (FICTS) Festival, first held in Mumbai, India, in 2006, and was also screened at the South Asia Film Festival and other festivals that year.
Today, another short film, which he made while at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Germany, was selected to compete in "the final round of CinemadaMare Film Festival in Italy" in the summer of 2008; it competed "with over 150 directors around the world at the semi final round" (10–14 August).
His article on the "Sri Lankan Experience of the Short Film", published in ArtSlant Magazine, states, somewhat less unequivocally than he may have suggested in his earlier Sri Lanka Sunday Times interviews: "Recently, after I presented two of my short films titled 'Life Circle' and 'Exchange' in Tel-Aviv Student … Festival (2004), and Short shorts film festival Tokyo (2005), respectively, the dialogue about the short-film in Sri Lanka has resurfaced to a certain extent"; he goes on to focus on what having his films included in such student festivals meant to him personally and develops his own perspective on short film as an art form and an industry in Sri Lanka.
Full Length Films
Radio Play (Audio Collections)
2016 Earful of visual ( Kanata Parak ),
Kanata Parak (Earful of Visuals), a dual audio CD anthology of 14 Radio Play collection an aesthetic revolutionary change in the sphere of Radio Plays in Sri lankan Radio history after 90 year. Earful of Visuals has vocally contributed nearly 40 Sinhala and Tamil prominent artistes.The Granted of this project by Artlink of FLICT aka GIZ(Facilitating Initiatives For Social Cohesion & Transformation) and presented by Contemporary Art Commune.
Sri lankan First The State Radio Awards festival was held at the Nelum Pokuna Theater on 13 February, 2017. It was organized by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, North-Western Development and Cultural Affairs, Department of Cultural Affairs and the State Advisory Board for Radio. Malaka was declared as the Best Radio Drama writer at the ceremony.