ATHULA

INDEPENDENT FILM PROFESSIONAL - SRI LANKA

JULY 7, 2016

Palmyrah Talkies, 30 MOSSBURY ROAD, LONDON, SW11 2PB

UNITED KINGDOM.

Tel +44 07493172013

palmyrahtalkies@gmail.com

My name is Suba Sivakumaran and I am the CEO of Palmyrah Talkies, a United Kingdom based film Production Company that has produced two films in Sri Lanka (I Too Have A Name, and House of My Fathers (currently in post production).

During the latter film, we entered into a collaboration and agreement with Mr. Athula Sulthanagoda, head of Prime Asia Films. Mr. Sulthanagoda handled in-country line production and agreements and permits for the above production of House of My Fathers, handling millions of rupees, over 60 cast members and over 150 cast members during the 3 month production.

In all our dealings we found Mr. Athula Sulthanagoda to be one of the most honest, upright and professional film industry members we have ever encountered. Moreover he has the respect and a stellar reputation amongst international film industry foreign technicians who have worked with him on countless foreign productions in Sri Lanka during the last 20 years. This also includes the international film Midnight’s Children directed by Deepa Mehta and Bombay Velvet, a $120 million dollar production.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions,

Suba Sivakumaran

PRODUCER, WRITER AND DIRECTOR

CEO PALMYRAH TALKIES

UNITED KINGDOM

https://www.newstrails.com/sri-lanka-natures-best-film-studio-art-director-athula-sulthanagoda/

  Sri Lanka is nature’s best film studio: Art director Athula Sulthanagoda

October 20th, 2017 · Toronto,

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH SOMASIRI MUNASINGHE

“Sri Lanka is the best film studio nature has created, almost a superfluous wonder up to a certain point,” says one of the island’s acclaimed art directors who is internationally-known for his work with Hollywood and foreign film directors.

“The beautiful Indian Ocean’s 25,000-square-mile island, roughly the size of Tasmania, is a natural wonder in itself with a variety of climates, flora and fauna and the only thing it does not have is natural snow,” says Athula Sulthanagoda who is here on a visit in connection with the Toronto International Film Festival.

“There is arid desert-like climate and landscapes in the northern regions and the country is encircled with beautiful sea-washed sandy beaches. Southern part of the country is temperate and the hilly central part is cold while Nuwara Eliya with its British-style mansions and rolling

landscapes are most often compared to Scotland and if you need to shoot in a rain forest there is the pristine jungles of Sinharaja towards the southern part and several wild life sanctuaries crowded with elephants, leopards, snakes and other creatures, and a small island where wild horses roam freely,” says Athula who has worked with many prestigious film makers of the west.

Many foreign films are also shot in India but film crews have to travel long distances at greater costs if they want to shoot in different climatic conditions. Sri Lanka, like many other Asian countries, has well-preserved ruins of a culture going back to thousands of years, mansions and buildings built by British, Dutch and Portuguese rulers, ancient temples, mosques, kovils and churches and also most modern structures like sky scrapers and star-class hotels.

Athula who began his prolific career in 1984 has played many roles like art director, set dresser, props master with a track record of working for 23 Hollywood and other foreign films and 10 Sri Lankan productions, in addition to dozens of film and TV ad projects. Athula is a regular visitor to Toronto Film Festival

Internationally-known films he has worked are Beyond Rangoon, Mountbatten The Last Viceroy, The Iron Triangle, Jungle Book II, Mother Teresa, A Dangerous Life, Ordinary Magic, Water, Indochine (French), Paradise Road, Water and Midnight Children. Most of these films have been partly or completely shot in Sri Lanka.

Recently, he launched his own film producing company to capitalize on the high demand from Hollywood directors to make films in Asia. “After working in the film industry for 34 years under other people I launched my own company named Prime Asia Films a few years ago to lure foreign film makers to Sri Lanka and other Asian countries,” he says.

His company has just finished House of my Fathers, with Athula working as its production manager and line producer. The movie, directed by British-based Subha Sivakumaran is in its post-production phase.

“Tiff is a really good place to meet other aspiring film makers and make contacts. I have met several directors from many countries and leant a lot from them,” he says adding that soon he is planning to make a European tour to meet his prospective clients to persuade them to make films in Asia.

Talking about emerging new film-making technology he says, art direction (productions design) is a dying craft. “Today Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is developing fast with the ability to shoot any film anywhere in the world with the ability to create any set, and it is only a matter of time that humans will be replaced by pixels and digits”.

A film-set in Solar Eclipse Depth of Darkness, was created with tooth picks and rigifoam to simulate the Mumbai Railway Station in a Colombo studio with the help of CGI. “The set was made in Dubai and imported to Sri Lanka where the film was shot.” Athula worked as the Consultant of the Art Department while Bimal Dushmantha functioned as the Sri Lankan Art Director.

The film is a period movie directed by Karim Traidia dealing with the subject of a conspiracy theory on true events in India, that led to the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. It will be released in the US next April.

Athula had his education at Colombo Thurston College, studying science with no intention in pursuing a film career despite the fact he was an excellent painter. He got through the A-Levels and was studying architecture when an accidental meeting with a well-known film art director, Errol Kelley, led him to a career in films.

At the beginning, Athula worked for a Sri Lankan company, Film Locations Services owned by Chandran Rutnam, who lured some of the biggest Hollywood film makers like Stephen Spielberg to shoot their movies in Sri Lanka.

“When I began there were no proper courses to study art direction in Sri Lanka but I was very lucky to have worked with some of the world’s best film makers and art directors enabling me to familiarize with many aspects of movie making, not taught in traditional film schools” says Athula. He mentions two films which helped him to master the sophisticated techniques in the field, Beyond Rangoon and Midnight Children.

In Beyond Rangoon he worked as Set Dresser in Second Unit. The movie which was filmed in Malaysia was directed by John Boorman in which Patricia Arquette played the lead role. Boorman also directed films like Deliverance, Exorcist II, Hell in the Pacific and Tailor of Panama.

Athula has gained wide experience working under film professionals who have even won Academy Awards such as British Costume Designer Jenny Beavan

Athula was given a one-week workshop before working for Mountbatten the Last Viceroy. He also worked with director Eddie Fowlie in Beyond Rangoon. He is known for films like Lawrence of Arabia, Passage to India and Bridge on the River Kwai. He passed away this year.

waited patiently till they examined us and diverted their attention to do some other mischief. They stole our food, clothes, damaged our living quarters, opened with their bare hands nailed boxes where we hid our valuables, one stole a video camera and climbed a tree and started throwing its broken pieces at us. They stole our hats and went up the trees and wore them.”

He says his current sojourn in Toronto gave him a chance to have talks about his next project which will be a Canadian film. It will be directed by Priyankara Vitanachchi who made the award-winning Sam’s Story. Based on the novel, Walakulu Bemma (Wall of Clouds) written by acclaimed writer Chandrarathne Bandara, the movie. will be shot both in Sri Lanka and Canada. 

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