‘News from Jaffna’ (25 mins) was commissioned by the Al Jazeera Witness team under its Viewfinder Asia programme, and first broadcast on 29 September 2014.
A young reporter dares to cover press freedom in one of the world’s most dangerous places for journalists – Sri Lanka.
Screening/Presentation: A selection of work by Kannan Arunasalam followed by Q&A with Kannan Arunasalam and Vasuki Nesiah (Gallatin Human Rights Initiative). ‘New South Asian Documentary: On and Off Screen’, New York University, New York, 25-27 September 2015
After each FSA festival, a package of 8-10 films are selected to travel across the Subcontinent and the world as the at more than 50 international venues”>Travelling Film Southasia (TFSA) package.’The Story of One’ also won the inaugural Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Foundation grant prize for documentary film in 2013.
NEW YORK, NY –(Nov 19, 2013) – In its inaugural debut, The Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Foundation for Documentary Photography & Film today awarded Sri Lankan journalist and filmmaker Kannan Arunasalam its first annual prize for best documentary ‘short-short’ film. “Rooted in reportage and traditional documentary filmmaking, Kannan’s film doesn’t try to tone down these atrocities. Instead, he treats the viewer to the very voices of those that had been there and lost loved ones,” said Foundation Founder and President Manuel Rivera-Ortiz. “Kannan bears witness on our behalf reminding us yet again of the power of not only the moving voice, but of the moving picture. His work exemplifies the core mission of our foundation.”
Our short film,’The Brothers Shaikh’, posted on The Guardian and voted its ‘Top Video’. A man searches for answers after his brother’s murder in Sri Lanka. Peter Savodnik, Kannan Arunasalam and Ed Perkins. Source: Stateless Media Length: 14min 40sec.
Sri Lankan Olympian Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam on his hopes for reconciliation
Diaspora communities can inspire peace in their country of origin, according to US citizen Dr Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam, a former Olympian of Tamil heritage who coaches young athletes in Sri Lanka. Though he is sceptical of the government’s reconciliation programme, he says sport can help heal the scars of the country’s long conflict and provide hope to the young. Film-maker Kannan Arunasalam met him in his native city of Jaffna last year as part of International Alert’s Diaspora Diaries film series.
Poverty matters blog: Sri Lanka needs citizen participation in politics to truly achieve peace
My two documentary shorts, Broken (15 mins) and The Story of One (18 m 54 s) were accepted into competition at Film South Asia 2013, selecting the best documentaries about South Asia over the previous two years.
Stateless Media founder, Peter Savodnik’s article in Freedom House: Impunity and the Power of the Press in Sri Lanka: “I reported the story, and I worked with two brilliant filmmakers. Kannan Arunasalam, in Sri Lanka, was artful and fearless; he helped illustrate the beauty and darkness of a country that is still struggling to figure out what it wants to be after a 26-year civil war that ended in 2009. Ed Perkins, in Manchester, managed to capture, rather poignantly, Nasser’s complicated family life and to bring out some of the emotional forces that have shaped his thinking about his brother. Together, Kannan and Ed wove together a story that is heartbreaking, mystifying, awful, and, at moments, redemptive.”
The new film I co-directed about the killing of British tourist Khuram Shaikh in Sri Lanka, was posted on The New Yorker, 24 July 2013. The Brothers Shaikh, produced and reported by Peter Savodnik, directed and filmed by Kannan Arunasalam and Ed Perkins. A Stateless Media Production.
My documentary short Paper was screened as part of a lecture on South Asian contemporary art, Guggenheim Museum, New York, April 2013
