2024 | Sri Lanka | Documentary

Payanam (Journey)

  • Tamil, English 65 mins
  • Director | Visakesa Chandrasekaram
  • Writer | -
  • Producer | Visakesa Chandrasekaram

STATUS: Released

This film is currently not available.   

In the aftermath of the Sri Lankan civil war, which began in 1983 and ended in 2009, five women collaborate with a team of theatre practitioners and academic researchers, sharing the horrific violence they endured during the conflict as part of a process of recovery. Journey is a deeply moving retelling of these experiences through performance art — monologues, dance, movement, folklore and music – which becomes an exercise in mapping and archiving memories. As we are transported through the survivors’ personal experiences, filmmaker Visakesa Chandrasekaram (who previously touched on the conflict as writer-director of the narrative features Paangshu (2018) and Munnel (2023), not only explores what justice and resistance look like, but also what hope, dreams, love, longing and safety represent in their world.

Civil War Women Theater Violence Art Survivors Safety Dreams
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