‘Puthekuta’ makes unique theatrical debut in Italy

The film ‘Puthekuta’ (For a Son), written and directed by Suranga Katugampala, a young  ​Sri Lankan born film maker who lives in Italy, is starting its theatrical release in Italy for the public on 30 March. It is a very exciting and important moment for Sri Lankan cinema because perhaps it is very rare for a Sri Lankan film to be released in theatre for the public in a foreign country.

For a Son, the film of Suranga Deshapriya Katugampala is the emotional story of an intimacy that imposes itself on the screen as an authentic social portrait; for its realism that fades into a seductive symbolic map; and for the rendition of the leading actress Kaushalya Fernando who expresses through her anxious breathing and silent glances the fatigue of the path to full multiculturality.

Sunita (Kaushalya), a middle-aged Sri Lankan woman, lives with her teenage son on the outskirts of a northern Italian city where she works as a caregiver.

The relationship between mother and son is fraught with tension and silence.

Having grown up in Italy, the boy is a cultural hybrid his mother struggles to understand, as she fights to live in a country to which she does not want to belong.

The movie won special mention from the jury of 52nd Pesaro International Film Festival 2016.

Director Suranga has the following to say: “I wanted a minimalist film, simple and close as possible to the reality. It was December of 2014. I was in Negombo Sri Lanka. Aravinda and I talked about this film day and night: How to do it, with whom and how to find the money. Only thing that we were sure of was the deep urgent need to tell a story, to tell ‘here we are’, ‘our story is also your story, a story we all can relate to’.” 

A very minimalistic film was born; made with moments of everyday and household life, at times repetitive; a story of any other province in northern Italy. I didn’t want to write any precise dialogs. Everything was improvised during the shooting, adopted by actors to suit what they were feeling at that time. The words in the end were chosen by them.

We worked with a high level of anarchy. We were forced to do so. Kirthi, the electrician, was climbing trees and putting up lights, something which is considered illegal in Italy. Shirantha, one of the actors drove us around in the van with his broken leg. It was necessary. Because we had only what we had and we had no other option but to be satisfied with what we had.

The dream of a simple cinema was slowly realising. Meanwhile we were riding the happy wave of telling our story.

Since its drafting, this project has attracted many people who were willing to offer a ride, a plate of rice or a place to stay. We united our forces, in front of a thousand problems, Sri Lankans and Italians, because this was the story of every one of us.