Newton Cinema’s ‘Paradise’ won the ‘Kim Ji-seok’ award for best film at the Busan International Film Festival held in Busan, South Korea. Directed by renowned Sri Lankan filmmaker Prasanna Vithanage, the film premiered at the Busan Film Festival. Along with Roshan Mathew and Darshana Rajendran, leading Sri Lankan actors like Shyam Fernando, Mahendra Perera and others are playing the lead roles, Mani Ratnam’s ‘Paradise’ is being presented to the audience.
The backdrop of Paradise is the economic crisis faced by Sri Lanka in 2022, the resulting price hikes, shortages of essential commodities including fuel and medicines, and popular uprisings. During this period, ‘Paradise’ tells the story of a Malayalam TV producer and his vlogger wife, who come to Sri Lanka to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary, and the unexpected events and strange experiences that the audience has to face. The film, which deals with the racial tensions in Sri Lanka, uses notable events and places from the Ramayana as part of the storyline.
The film’s director Prasanna Vithanage commented that receiving an award in the name of his late dear friend Kim Jisok was an emotional experience. He recalled that it was Kim who first selected his film for the Busan Film Festival 28 years ago, and that Kim Ji-seok was a close friend of all filmmakers from Asia. Prasanna Vithanage responded to the news of the award by thanking the film’s producer Anto Chittilapalli, the production company Newton Cinema, the film’s presenter Mani Ratnam, Madras Talkies and the crew of Paradise. Prasanna Vithanage, a native of Sri Lanka, is the only director to have won the ‘NETPAC’ award for the best films in Asian cinema five times.
Mani Ratnam, famous director and master of Madras Talkies, said that works like ‘Paradise’ happen when re-imaginings of male-female relationships and re-reading of legends happen in a paradise-like land where socio-economic instability is a recurring theme.
The workers of Newton Cinema are happy that the first screening of Paradise gave them the award. Newton Cinema’s C. said that this award will be a great boost for their efforts to bring the film to a wider audience, and they hope that the audience around the world will accept Paradise as the movie was received by the packed audiences at the theaters in Busan. E. O. Anto Chittilapilli commented.
Cinematography by Rajeev Ravi, Paradise is composed by Sreekar Prasad. Tapas Naik has composed the music for the film by “K”.
Established in 2017 in memory of the late festival director Kim Ji-seok, the award aims to recognize contemporary excellence and diverse efforts in Asian cinema.
