UPCOMING: REPUBLIC OF AMNESIA
Directed by Kannan Arunasalam
Co-Production between Retold World and International Centre for Ethnic Studies
‘Republic of Amnesia’ is a documentary film that follows the rise and fall of Sri Lanka’s Aragalaya (“The Struggle”)—the non-violent protest movement that forced authoritarian president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country in 2022. At its heart are Melani, Buwanaka, Jeana, and Chamara, young activists who lead marches, face arrest, and fight for a more inclusive future. As they challenge a corrupt political dynasty and a system built to resist change, can their struggle reshape Sri Lanka, or will the forces of repression prevail?
Upcoming: POSSIBLE LANDSCAPES
Directed by Kannan Arunasalam
Produced by Natalie Melas (Cornell University) and Tao Sule DuFour (University of Cambridge)
An enquiry into intergenerational lived experiences of landscape and environmental change in the Caribbean, Possible Landscapes moves through sugarcane fields with their saccharine smells of burning cane, follows the contours of valleys that ascend into the mists of mountain ranges coloured by language, moves across the clear waters of seas that reveal dying coral reefs, sits in the quiet of unfinished domestic spaces that stretch into oil fields, carries us across the rough and tragic waters of the Atlantic. Filmed in Trinidad and Tobago across two seasons, we are led by the memories, narratives and labour of a few persons in their daily lives to consider the interlacing of post-independence aspirations and disappointments, legacies of colonialism and postcolonial nationalism, and changing forms of extractivism with today’s environmental crises.
A collaboration between a documentary filmmaker, Kannan Arunasalam and two scholars, Tao DuFour (Architecture) an architect and spatial theorist and Natalie Melas (Comparative Literature) a postcolonial comparatist and scholar of Caribbean thought, Possible Landscapes is the outcome of the team research project, “Possible Landscapes: Documenting Environmental Experience in Trinidad and Tobago,” funded through a grant from Cornell University’s Migrations: A Global Grand Challenge and the Mellon Just Futures Initiative.
SRI LANKA’S REBEL WIFE
Directed by Kannan Arunasalam
Commissioned by Al Jazeera Witness
‘Sri Lanka’s Rebel Wife’ premiered at the Frontline Club in London before its broadcast on Al Jazeera’s flagship strand, Witness. Filmed over several years, the documentary follows Ananthy Sasitharan in her relentless search for answers about the disappearance of her Tamil Tiger husband at the end of the Sri Lankan civil war. The film went on to be shortlisted for Best Documentary Film at the DIG Investigative Film Awards in Modena, Italy, in 2022, alongside films from leading international broadcasters.
WE LOVE WE SELF UP HERE
Directed by Kannan Arunasalam
Co-Production with Natalie Melas (Cornell University) and Tao Sule DuFour (University of Cambridge)
‘We Love We Self Up Here’ is an experimental documentary film that explores the lived experiences of urban, agricultural, and industrial landscapes in Trinidad & Tobago, all shaped by colonial and postcolonial legacies of sugar production and hydrocarbon extraction. Completed in 2021, the film captures the complex histories of labor and migration through the intimate stories of several individuals. The spaces of narration—domestic, neighborhood, and landscape—become characters in their own right, serving as architectural and environmental witnesses to long processes of social and ecological change. Winner of Best Documentary Film, Society of Architectural Historians, April 2023. Previous winners include the multi-award-winning Unfinished Spaces. Judges' citation: "'We Love Self Up Here' reflects the shifting landscape of architectural scholarship, addressing complex issues of race, globalization, work, class, migration, and community. With a score that enhances its contemplative tone, the film invites viewers to listen, probe, and linger, building on an improvisational cinéma vérité tradition that avoids conventional documentary clichés."
THE TENT
Directed by Kannan Arunasalam
Co-Commission supported by the British Council and Arts Council, England
‘The Tent’ is an immersive two-channel film installation that explores a women-led protest in northern Sri Lanka. During the height of the Sri Lankan conflict (1983–2009), tens of thousands of ethnic Tamils disappeared. The Tent focuses on the wives and mothers of the missing in Mullaitivu, where the war ended in brutality. At the time of filming, the women had been protesting for over a year. The film contrasts the quiet moments in the protest camp with footage from the large crowds that gathered on the anniversaries of the protests. The tent becomes a metaphor for the world inhabited by these protesting women, caught between hope and grief. The film was showcased at Kannan Arunasalam’s solo exhibitions at The Tetley, Leeds, and the South Gallery at the University of Brighton (February – May 2019). ‘The Tent’ was a co-commission supported by the British Council and Arts Council England.
