The Pulitzer Center-supported documentary Democracy in Debt: Sri Lanka Beyond the Headlines will receive two awards — Best Social Film and Best Screenplay — at the Second Jalgaon International Film Festival in India.
The film, shot in Sri Lanka following the country’s economic crisis, was produced by Boston-based Pakistani journalist and filmmaker Beena Sarwar in collaboration with a Sri Lankan team that included historian and filmmaker Dr. SinhaRaja Tammita Delgoda and researcher Uditha Devapriya.
It had a private premiere at the Barberyn Ayurveda Resort in Weligama, followed by a Colombo premiere hosted by Factum International in July 2024. The Colombo screening was attended by diplomats, political representatives, journalists, academics, cultural figures and retired military officials.
Co-directed and co-written by Sarwar and Tammita-Delgoda, who also conceptualised the project and served as a special consultant, the documentary addresses themes extending beyond Sri Lanka. It has been screened more than 80 times across approximately 25 countries on five continents.
Screenings in the United States have included Emerson College in Boston, Cambridge Public Library in Massachusetts, Cornell University and SUNY Buffalo. The film has also been shown in South Asian cities including Karachi, Lahore, Jaipur, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Dhaka and Kathmandu.
The production marks the first film made under the auspices of the Southasia Peace Action Network and Sapan News, two voluntary initiatives launched in 2021 and spearheaded by Sarwar.
Organisers of the Jalgaon International Film Festival said more than 2,500 films from 75 countries were submitted this year, with 250 selected for awards by a jury comprising professionals from India, Iran, Egypt, Portugal and the Netherlands.
The awards ceremony is scheduled to take place on Sunday, March 1, at the Abdul Kalam Azad Research Centre in Aurangabad, Maharashtra. Mirza Dawood Azad is set to accept the awards on behalf of the film’s team. Winners will receive a trophy, certificate and a traditional Maharashtra pagri. (Newswire)
Film trailer here – https://youtu.be/ax1OvuWWqVE
About the film and how to watch it here: https://tinyurl.com/sldocu-details