Nun Other Than - Screening and Q&A with film director Udan Fernando

In the immediate aftermath of the Sri Lankan insurrection of 1971, while the leadership of the JVP, the insurgent political party, was incarcerated, some JVP activists made attempts to revive their movement. A young Catholic nun in a convent in Colombo, exposed to these activists, develops an empathy with the JVP cause, fired by her sense of injustice. Her engagement with these revolutionaries, soon joined by their leaders who were released from prison in late 1977, takes her on a tumultuous spiritual and political roller-coaster where she finds her loyalties leaning more towards party activism than her religious obligations. Finally, she reaches a crisis point and is compelled to make a choice between the two, but she continues to question her own decisions in the context of a rapidly changing political landscape in the 1980s and a resultant dramatic shift in the JVP’s outlook and strategy.

90 minutes | Docu-drama | English and Sinhala with English Subtitles | Directed by Udan Fernando | Released in Colombo in Sept -24

Agenda

4-4.30pm – Reception with light refreshments
4.30-6pm – Film screening
6-6.30pm – Q&A with the Director

About the Director

Having followed a Diploma in Cinematography in 1984, it took many years for Udan Fernando to venture into making his own films due to academic and professional priorities. However, in 2019, Udan launched a parallel career of making documentary films: Dwandha -a tale of two two rebels (2019), A Covid Honeymoon (2020), A Virgin Vote (2020), Evoking (2022) and Not So Greener Pastures (2023).

Udan Fernando obtained his PhD from the University of Amsterdam, in International Development Cooperation. He was guest Researcher at University of Amsterdam (2002-2007), Senior Consultant of Context International, Netherlands (2008-2012) and Executive Director of the Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA), a Sri Lankan think-tank (2012-2020). Udan has focused on development cooperation and aid policy in Sri Lanka, Europe, East & West Africa and Southeast Asia.

Udan is currently based in Singapore, working as a Consultant with the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), a US-based academic agency with a world-wide membership. At AAS, Udan is working with the project 'Developing the Humanities and Social Sciences and Supporting Under-Represented Scholars of Asia', in Cambodia, Thailand, India, Pakistan and East Timor.

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