Sci-fi action with deeper themes of racism and prejudice

Screamfest Best Short Film – ‘Vikaari’

By Sajitha Prematunge

The Sri Lankan produced short film ‘Vikaari’ won the Best Short Film award at the 20th annual Screamfest Horror Film Festival held in Hollywood, California, from October 6 to 15. WatchWorthy went behind the scenes of ‘Vikaari’ with Co-Writer, Producer and Director Sandun Seneviratne.

Known as the Sundance of horror, Screamfest is the largest and longest running horror film festival in the United States. Considered one of the best genre festivals in the world, it entertains horror, sci-fi and thriller films and screenplays. Cult classics such as ‘The Grudge’ and ‘Paranormal Activity’ premiered at Screamfest. This year’s Screamfest was a drive-in affair, showcasing the works of 91 independent filmmakers in the course of its 10-day series, including 83 short film directors, 67 short film producers, 11 feature film directors, and 13 feature film producers. Top movies, filmmakers, actors and screenplays for the year 2020 were awarded during the festival’s closing night on Thursday, October 15.

‘Vikaari’ was the first ever Sri Lankan produced movie accepted for screening at the festival and the award was a pleasant bonus for Co-Writer, Producer and Director Sandun Seneviratne. It clinched the Best Short Film award, beating 62 other, mostly US and European short films. Sandun Seneviratne explained that although there are many festivals in the circuit, it’s difficult to get selected for screening at a top-rated festival, let alone win an award. “I consider it not just a personal achievement, but one for the country,” said Seneviratne. ‘Vikaari’ has been selected for screening at the Lund International Fantastic Film Festival, in Sweden, at the end of the month.

The story of ‘Vikaari’ was conceived some 20 years ago. “In fact it was my first script,” said Seneviratne. The screenplay was co-written with Charlie Bray, his classmate from London Film Academy, adapted to the current context. The duo attended London Film Academy from 2006 to 2009.

Seneviratne describes ‘Vikaari’ as not ‘horror’ per se, but a sci-fi action-drama. He admitted that sci-fi is his forte and most of his previous projects are also of the sci-fi action drama genre. He was exposed to science fiction at an early age, when he was introduced to the works of Sir Arthur C. Clarke in his father’s library. Other than Clarke, Seneviratne was inspired by Isaac Asimov and Frank Herbert, whose ‘Dune’, the movie adaptation of which will be out soon, made quite an impression on Seneviratne.

Hollywood mutant movie franchises no doubt influenced the film’s makers to favour the title ‘Vikaari’, derived from the Sanskrit meaning of the word: ‘change’ or ‘an entity that can change. The film revolves around the births of a new generation of children with a similar set of disabilities, bordering on the supernatural, in countries devastated by war. Although the phenomenon sparks worldwide panic, ‘Vikaari’ focuses on the political and cultural turmoil brought on by the advent of the Vikaari in Sri Lanka, pushing the nation towards the brink of another violent conflict, just after the end of a three-decade long war. Some want to eliminate the ‘Vikaari’ while others have ulterior motives for wanting to keep them.

True to the genre, the kaleidoscope of visuals imbues the ‘Vikaari’ trailer with a ‘Blair Witch Project’-kind of eeriness. The soundtrack, reminiscent of the menacing ping in ‘Life’ and one that precedes the calm before all hell breaks lose in ‘Annihilation’, firmly establishes it in the sci-fi genre, while Robert Dee Richards’ very convincing Prof. David Hameroff provides it a documentary-style credibility. However, ‘Vikaari’ is not mere science fantasy. It deals with more socially relevant subject matter and deeper underlying themes such as racism and the cost of prejudice.

Most of ‘Vikaari’ was shot in Sri Lanka, while some sequences were shot in the UK. Written and directed by Seneviratne and Charlie Bray the film and stars Ashan Dias, Bimsara Premaratne and British actor Robert Dee Richards in leading roles along with a host of other Sri Lankan actors. Most of the movie is in English with some of the Sinhala dialogue accompanied by English subtitles.

Seneviratne has been making short films for nearly two decades and has a bank of stories he hopes to make into movies. His big breakthrough was Sri Lanka’s first big budget sci-fi web series ‘Seer: Death sight’. The 2007 short film revolved around a psychic hit man, in an apocalyptic future, who was trained to treat everything between him and his target as collateral. But his life is turned topsy-turvy when he meets a little girl. Seer: Death sight, in short film form was screened at many prestigious genre film festivals including The Phoenix Comic Con film festival, Intl Sci-FI and Fantasy Film Festival of Athens and Fantastic Planet: Sydney.

“The language of film-making is very easy, you shoot, get a few close-ups and piece them together and you have a movie. What’s difficult is making a good film,” said Seneviratne, which, according to him, took him a lifetime of study, experience and experimentation. Seneviratne hopes to locally produce Hollywood-inspired feature films that can compete in the international market in terms of production value and storytelling. “But it’s difficult to find resources for and finance them in Sri Lanka,” said Seneviratne, when asked why he has not yet made a feature-length film.

He finances his own films and many in the ‘Vikaari’ team was very understanding and supportive. The Vikaari child actors Nethuli Adihetti, Nithila Goonetilleke and Thinuga Adihetti also gave the audiences a run for their money. “Of course you can’t live off film-making in Sri Lanka,” said Seneviratne who runs his own business. He is the Director of Louvre International School in Nugegoda and Pannipitiya. “It’s difficult to maintain a large film industry in Sri Lanka, considering the small population, but the local film industry is doing the best it can, specially in the art house genre, although we’re lagging behind on commercial movies of international calibre.” Seneviratne hopes that upcoming young local film-makers can change that.

When asked what obstacles there are for a Sri Lankan to break into the international film industry, Seneviratne said, “It just never been done before.” But he explained that with platforms such as YouTube and internet usage being amongst the highest in the region, reaching audiences has ceased to be a challenge. Not to mention that such social media platforms take bureaucratic red tape, of getting a full-length movie approved, out of the equation. “Technology is improving and movie-making is becoming cheaper by the day. You can make a movie on your phone, which I did during the lockdown.” He pointed out that even visual effects are getting cheaper. But are they on par with that of Hollywood? “Yes, they are getting there.” in fact some of the visual effects for ‘Vikaari’ were done by a Sri Lankan company called ApexDfx.

However, will Sri Lankan artists, who’ve been heavily influenced by Indian cinema and soap opera, notorious for over-acting, hype and melodrama, be disciplined enough to pull off a Hollywood-level movie? “There’s nothing wrong with being influenced by different film cultures. It’s what you want to do that matters.” However, he explained that the art house film culture in Sri Lanka is very much influenced by Russian cinema. “Tarkovsky type of very abstract art house film-making, in particular,” pointed out Seneviratne.

“Besides, it’s not really a matter of discipline. It’s a matter of talent.” Seneviratne explained that such an acting style is encouraged in the way that Sri Lankan artistes are trained. “Our way of acting is different to that of Hollywood. It’s just a matter of bridging the two styles. It’s not like our actors are not talented and as long as you’re working with talented people, you can talk to them and mould them into what you want.”

But would Sri Lankan audiences, whose taste have been shaped by such influences accept such movies made by Sri Lankans, when there is already a proliferation of Hollywood originals in the market? He said that although he hopes that the movie would have a global reach, he also hopes that it will be embraced by Sri Lankan audiences. His idea of film is truly international, employing both eastern and western characters, set mainly in the Asian region. “People watched films like ‘Black Panther’ and ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ irrespective of location they were set in and who was acting. As long as it’s a good entertaining story, it will sell. He cited ‘Parasite’ as a good example for an Asian movie that was able to tap into the international market. “Besides science fantasy like superhero movies are in vogue, it’s hard to believe that somebody even in a remote corner of India or an island like Sri Lanka would not be able to identify with them.”

He said that sci-fi and action translate well across borders because one does not need to be able to understand the language in an action movie to be able to make sense of it and enjoy it. Although he opined that sci-fi and action share a universal language, few local science fiction have, in either book or movie form, gained international or even regional recognition. Seneviratne begged to differ, pointing out that Sri Lankan science fiction is gradually gaining momentum. “Amanda Jay for example, won the 2017 Fairway National Literary Award for her ‘The Other One'” Seneviratne identified Navin Weeraratne and Yudanjaya Wijeratne as two other promising science fiction writers. “Local sci-fi movies have not gained global or regional recognition, but that’s not a dilemma specific to Sri Lanka. In fact, only Hollywood can pull it off. It can’t be the huge budgets, because the budgets of Chinese movies are almost equal to those of Hollywood movies and their box office is likely to overtake Hollywood within five years, but they are virtually unheard of outside their country.”

He explained that the same applies to Bollywood films. “They are a multi-billion dollar industry, a close second to Hollywood. But again they are not very popular outside the Asian region.” Seneviratne opined that it’s all in the story telling. “There’s something in the way that Hollywood tells a story that appeals to mass audiences. If you master that art of story-telling, that’s half the battle.