Norway 28'00'' 2023

DIRECTED BY

Ilakkiya Mariya Simon

PRODUCED BY

Ilakkiya Mariya Simon, University of Tromsø

SCRIPTWRITER

Ilakkiya Mariya Simon

A Letter To Lanka moves between memories of the civil war to the present political turmoil. Told through a poetic and personal journey of the filmmaker`s reconnection to land, soil and people, it invites the audiences into existential questions of belonging in a chaotic world. What does it mean to be at home in the world? What binds people together, and what can break them apart?

Ilakkiya Mariya Simon holds a Master of Philosophy in Visual Anthropology from UiT The Arctic University of Norway, and a BA in Social Anthropology from the University of Bergen, where she started The Ethnographic Film Club. Prior to getting into anthropology, she was a teacher and movement practitioner from different disciplines and arts. Her experiences with movement and her Sri Lankan ancestry are what underpins her anthropological interest exploring existential themes of home, belonging, identity, and the environment. Ilakkiya is passionate about her intimate and fragmented relationship to Sri Lanka.