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That, he believes, was where his passion was moulded into what it eventually became: a film-maker. In addition, he says his father had a collection of magazines from the Soviet Union that contained black and white pictures which amazed him in terms of how an idea could be translated using a seemingly simple medium such as black and white photography.
“It really whetted my appetite and gave me a bit of an obsession for more of this wonderful subject and by then I was just waiting for a camera of my own. After my grade 11 examinations in 1993, I talked with my father about a newspaper advertisement about a photography course conducted by veteran Sri Lankan photographer and poet Lal Hegoda. Naturally, my father encouraged me to follow it and some of the basic principles I learnt from Hegoda sir and the exposure I had to international photographers such as Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Julia Margaret Cameron shaped me.”
Following the course was what he believes the decision that really changed his life. Not only did it help him to develop both a practical and theoretical knowledge of the subject, but it also taught him the value of having a vision.
“During that time, my father sold our old car to buy a camera for me. It was a memorable day getting my Minolta Dynax 5000, my first camera. I can still remember how proud I was to just think that I’m a photographer. It was also beautiful to realise that I was totally impressed with the world seen through the viewfinder.”
Television
After leaving school, Udaya applied for the Video Concept & Television Program Production Techniques Diploma at the National Youth Service Council (NYSC) in 1998. It was here that he got to learn the theory, practice and technical aspects of visual media as well as firsthand knowledge in directing, editing, cinematography and scriptwriting.
“I started watching more films, film-making documentaries, reading books on this subject. Those surroundings persuaded me to walk though the literature and culture of this visual medium. We all had the opportunity to create individual short films with of at least five minute durations. That was my first short film experience and it added to my obsession with images and the visual medium,” Udaya explained.
While attending this course he also got the chance to participate in a number of national and international film and television workshops and seminars conducted by the NYSC that built in him the confidence to create.
Then in 2000, he was appointed as an assistant program producer at a leading television station in Sri Lanka, and with a little hard work and dedication he quickly saw himself promoted as a program producer. “That was where I got most of my practical experience, but after five years, I left the job realising I was not doing what I really wanted to do in my life.”
The following period, Udaya explains, was a very difficult time in his life, with him planning to do something new and finding the means for sustenance while living alone in an apartment. “I wanted to watch movies and participate in related discussions. I met people who had worked in the industry for years and it was then that I realised which road my filmmaking should take. It was a defining time.”
Filmmaking and the DSLR method
When I asked Udaya how he would describe his style of filmmaking, he said: “My films are not for people who expect films that include kings and queens and sword fights and magic. That’s not my audience. I want the people who watch my films to be more interested in deeper emotions and the human psyche.”
He doesn’t count just one international director as his favourite and most inspiring. He counts Lars Von Trier as the contemporary film director who has impressed him most: “I feel that he speaks the language that I understand when it comes to films in terms of his style, elements and subjects. But it wouldn’t be fair to say that I draw my inspiration from just one person, there are lots of people I get inspired by. I also admire Tarantino and Anton Corbijn as filmmakers.”
One of Udaya’s earlier works was a film called ‘How I Wonder What You Are,’ a low budget film that came about as a partnership between Udaya and Chinthana Dharmadasa, a friend he made along the way who shared similar ideas and views on filmmaking.
“We shared a passion for making high quality low budget films in Sri Lanka. One thing he and I both agreed on was how difficult it was for newcomers in the industry with talent to make their first films. The way the industry is at the moment, it makes it very hard. ‘How I Wonder What You Are’ was probably the most low budget film ever made in Sri Lanka; the total cost of which was only about $ 3,000 in 2009. It was a minimalistic film about missed opportunities in love and the regrets that follow.”
The film, he explained, was made in a style not normal in the industry today. With a small team that pitched in and multitasked, carrying out dual responsibilities, Udaya managed to complete the film, which he says is a much more productive method than used today.
“When we finished the film, we didn’t have the finances to promote the movie and get it out there on the film circuit so we decided to burn DVDs and take it around the country, showing it to small audiences. We had a live audience everywhere and showed the movie in a sort of workshop style where people could talk about and discuss the movie at length and share ideas. I believe the success of that film wasn’t in the monetary aspect of it. There was none. But it lay more in the fact that it inspired people and made them see that you can make your own film even on a low budget. All it takes is a little dedication and belief.”
‘Miles of a Dream’
Udaya’s latest project ‘Miles of a Dream’ is a Sri Lankan-French co-production, shot both here and on location in Paris and starring a mixed cast of Sri Lankan and French actors and filmed in French.
Speaking about the film, Udaya explained that it is about the psychology behind the pain and suffering brought about by love in its most intense form. Human beings in that situation, he said, need emotional crutches. They look and hope for that and when faced with the first and most practical option, cling on to that first sign of salvation that comes their way in the hope that their pain and suffering can be taken away and replaced by something not quite the same thing as before, but good enough for the moment.
What they don’t understand, he says, is that it’s just a dream and that at some point, people have to face reality and their fears in order to find the salvation that is right for them.
The story begins with Gayan and Eve. Gayan, a Sri Lankan immigrant living in France, and Eve his lover, stuck in a relationship that has hit stagnation point. Theirs is a love that has blinded them within a comfort zone that neither wants to admit is slowly tearing them apart. They refuse to face the bitter realities that stare them in the face.
Into this mix comes Chapa. A musician and Sri Lankan immigrant whose romantic ideals and poetic outlook in life spark a flame in Eve again, that leads them down the dangerous path of betrayal of friendship and emotional upheaval. The film follows all three characters as they wander through a whirlpool of emotions, coming together and breaking apart and discovering the salvation that was right in front of their eyes.
‘Miles of a Dream’ was directed by Udaya Dharmawardhana, with the script written by Chinthana Dharmadasa and the musical score by internationally-acclaimed Sri Lankan composer Lakshman Joseph De Saram. It starred Lakshan Abeynayake as Gayan, Pauline Delpech as Eve and Indrachapa Liyanage as Chapa and is still pending Film Board approval for release for public viewing.
Udaya, however, when asked when he sees it being released, said: “I wouldn’t stay up all night waiting for it anytime soon. If someone who understands the meaning behind the film watches it and sees it for what it is, it would. But I really don’t have an answer to your question.”
