For someone who is as fixated on all forms of art as I am - this is ridiculously exciting. I used to religiously attend the Galle Literary Festival year after year and I miss it s huge amount. I will be making a short visit to the Serendip Coast 2014 this weekend and Colomboscope ranks highly on my list.
I'm just highlighting a few of the events that piqued my interest the most - chances are I will go for a few more. Yamu has a wonderful comprehensive summary of the events and you can get the whole Colomboscope program here.
Friday, 31st Jan. 2014
(3:00 - 4:45 PM, New Town Hall) - FREE
Film Screening of My Mother's Village by Australian filmaker Aaron Burton
The film is about his re-visit to the village where his mother and father filmed their anthropological documentary in Sri Lanka, 30 years down the line and sees the changes of those years. The trailer looks very promising and the film sounds like a beautiful narrative of history and what it makes of us.
Saturday, 1st Feb 2104
(10:30 AM to 11:15 AM, Whist Bungalow) - FREE
IF WALLS COULD TALK with historian Deborah Philip
They always say you never know what is in your own backyard and this event circulating around the history and stories of the Whist Bungalow and surrounding Modera sounds like one that is illuminating.
(2:15 to 3:30 PM, Whist Bungalow)- Rs. 500
MEMORY AND REMEMBRANCE with Dr. Saravanmuttu, Shyam Selvadurai and Markus Hawel. The three panelists will discuss "The pressure of a single historical narrative challenges concepts of truth, memory and memorialising. How do we serve the needs of both private memories and public remembrance?"
I am a HUGE fan of Shyam Selvadurai - I am taking along all the copies of his books I own for signing and Dr. S is nothing if not stunningly eloquent so this should be a fascinating discussion.
Sunday, 2nd Feb 2014
(10:30 AM, Grand Oriental Hotel - FREE
IF WALLS COULD TALK with historian Deborah Philip
This time its based around the history of the hotel and the Fort, so again some hidden gems just waiting to be discovered.
(12:15 -1 PM, Old Town Hall) - FREE
SRI LANKA: WHAT IF? with Bradman Weerakoon.
This amazing man who has served 9 Heads of State in Sri Lanka will embark upon what is bound to be a mind-twisting discussion - "What if the 1962 coup had succeeded, if the 1971 insurrection had triumphed, or if the 1983 riot never happened? History is about turning points, choices made, and roads not taken."
(3:30 - 4:14 pm, Grand Oriental Hotel) - FREE
CLOTHED IN IDEOLOGY: DRESSING THE FEMALE BODY IN HISTORY with Asoka De Soyza. Here the discussion will be based on "a look at Sri Lanka’s political, social and moral ideologies expressed through clothing." which is for me a pet area of interest and I'm sure the audience will engage and create a lively discussion.
(4:30 to 5:15 pm, Rio Cinema)- FREE
Film Screening of DIASPORA STORIES by Tanuja Thurairajah covers "The lives of others through the lens of a migrant filmmaker, as she walks the paths of migration, a new home and the struggle for identity." This is an area of my research and just generally a topic I am continually fascinated by.
(5:30 - 6:45 pm, Grand Oriental Hotel) - Rs 500
WHOSE NARRATIVE IS IT ANYWAY? pannel discussion with Shyam Selvadurai, Abbas Khider, Donal McLaughlin, Prajwal Parajuly which again features Shyam (LOVE HIM) and discuss "Do diaspora writers have no choice but to borrow imagery from disparate groups?"
I am very very excited and I encourage everyone to come along and check it out. Art in all its forms is as important to our post-war and historic narrative and to me is the singular greatest thing we leave behind in our passing.