Sri Lanka’s first-ever International Sports Film Festival was held at the Tharangani Theatre of the National Film Corporation from 26 to 28 February.
The film festival, organised by SPORTSINFO, Sri Lanka’s premier, presidential awards winning sports promotion network in collaboration with National Sports Development Foundation aimed to strengthen the country’s sports literature base through cinematic creations.
The three days of the festival was graced by the presence of Choolananda Perera, Secretary,Ministry of Telecommunication, Foreign Employment and Sports; Suresh Subramaniam, President, National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka and Ana Punchihewa, Ex-President, Sri Lanka Cricket Board respectively.
The event also comprised of a very perspective symposium themed ‘The Role of Cinema in Developing Sports Literature’, which was moderated by Harsha B Abeykoon, Sri Lanka Representative, Federation Internationale Cinema Television Sportifs (FICTS) with the participation of Dr Samantha Nanayakkara, Faculty of Arts, University of Colombo; Rear Admiral Dr Shemal Fernando, Executive Committee Member, National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka and External Lecturer; Susil Ranasinghe, Sports Journalist and Nishantha Kahawita, Senior Manager, SLT PEO TV.The panel stressed that a systematic programme should be implemented to enrich Sri Lanka’s sports literature including sports themed novels, short stories, sports literature reviews and sports documentaries, which will in return contribute to motivate the budding sports stars of the country.
Another objective of the discussion was to bring together passionate Sports Instructors,Social Scientists, Cinematographers, Literary Figures, Sports Critics and fans onto a single platform and introduce them to use Sports Media and Communication as a tool to reach
greater heights in sports arena.
The industry experts also highlighted the importance of promoting cinema as a medium of sports education with related to subjects such as Sports science, Sports psychology, Sports medicine and Sports sociology in creating a sports-centered culture. They further pointed out the need of building a base of sports literature while reaching towards international victories and also introducing sports based literature as a learning material for sports enthusiasts.
‘Miracle Season’ was the opening film of the festival, which features how a devastating loss led an American girls’ volleyball team to victory. Directed by Sean McNamara, it was first screened in April, 2018. ‘Gold’, a film based upon the Indian hockey team that won the first Olympic medal for India as a free nation in 1948 was first screened in August, 2018. This Bollywood blockbuster directed by Reema Kagti was screened on the second day of the film festival and M S Dhoni’ was shown on the last day. Released in September, 2016, this movie presents the incredible story of India’s cricketing legend Dhoni. It was directed by Neeraj Pandey.
Sri Lanka National Netball Team and Sri Lanka National Deaf Cricket Team who won the inaugural Deaf-ICC T20 World Cup also attended the film festival, which saw the participation of many sports enthusiasts as well.
“In the following year, SPORTSINFO plans to organise an International Cinema Competition in parallel with the SILK film festival. Through this competition we wish to introduce local cinematic creations to the world”, stated Thilan Rangana, Chairman, PORTSINFO. SLT-PEO TV proudly sponsored the PEO TV SILK Film Festival while www.helawoodpopcorn.com joined hands as the official website of the event.
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