Chinthana Dharmadasa (born in November 27, 1976) is a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

n film director, film critic and a screenwriter who is also a Creative Director in the Sri Lankan

advertising industry The advertising industry is the global industry of public relations and marketing companies, media services, and advertising agencies. Several large advertising agencies, including WPP plc, Omnicom, Publicis Groupe, Interpublic and Dentsu, are ...

. Dharmadasa has worked for several periodicals as a writer and directed several

short films A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

music videos A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

, co-directed a feature film and is popularly known as an opinionated

blogger A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

and a critic.

Biography

Dharmadasa graduated from the

University of Peradeniya The University of Peradeniya (, ) is a Public research university, public university in Sri Lanka, funded by the University Grants Commission of Sri Lanka, University Grants Commission. It is the largest university in Sri Lanka, which was origin ...

Sri Lanka, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Philosophy and began his career as a media officer and worked in several government institutions. Shortly he moved into print media as a writer and a critic through publications such as the Ravaya weekly journal. Later he studied film-making under

Prasanna Vithanage Udaya Prasanna Vithanage () (born 14 March 1962) is a Sri Lankan filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most talented and influential filmmakers in South Asia. He is known for thought-provoking films that often deals with social, polit ...

and made his first short film 'Afterwards, he fell asleep'. This film was selected into the best category in shorts 2005 film festival, organized by the National Film Corporation, Sri Lanka. With this selection, Dharmadasa received a one-year film training scholarship at the National Institute for Film, Television and Theatre in Poland popularly known as the Lodz Film School. His second short film ''Insignificant'' which told a story of lives of people on the beach after the tsunami disaster, won the special jury award at the environmental film festival held by Asia Pacific television.

Theater

Dharmadasa co-directed the stage play ''Iris'' in 2004 based on

Hermann Hesse Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a Germans, German-Swiss people, Swiss poet and novelist, and the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His interest in Eastern philosophy, Eastern religious, spiritual, and philosophic ...

's short story with same title.

Filmmaking

After making series of short films and music videos with the exposure received through his film education his debut feature co-directed with Udaya Dharmawardena '' How I Wonder What You Are'', launched in 2010. It was a turning point in the Sri Lankan independent cinema with its groundbreaking low budget production which brought hope and opened the gates of film making to many young filmmakers. Dharmadasa's latest cinematic expression ''

Avilenasului ''Avilenasului'' () is a 2020 Sri Lankan Sinhala road thriller film directed by Chinthana Dharmadasa and produced by Anura Silva for Ashram Films. It stars Shyam Fernando and Samanalee Fonseka in lead roles along with Hemasiri Liyanage and Kum ...

'' was premiered in March 2020, setting a new mark in the Sri Lankan film culture as the first film representing the road thriller genre. He is also a visiting lecturer on film studies at '

Sri Palee Campus The Sri Palee Campus of the University of Colombo is located in Wewala, Horana, Sri Lanka. Established in 1996 it conducts undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the fields of performing arts and mass media. History The Sri Palee Campus ...

', Digital Film Academy Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka Television Training Institute : SLTTI.

Script Writing

As a script writer, Dharmadasa collaborated with

Boodee Keerthisena Vishvanath Buddhika Keerthisena, also known as Boodee Keerthisena, is a Sri Lankan filmmaker. He began his career drawing comics before moving into painting, dress design, and visual arts. He moved into music in the late 1980s, and performed ...

's upcoming film, ''Alone in a Valley''. and Sanjeewa Pushpakumara's debut film ''Flying Fish''. He is also the scriptwriter of Udaya Dharmawardhana's upcoming French feature film ''Miles of a Dream''.

Writing and Critiques

Dharmadasa authored several fictions in Sinhala language Bitter Lips and the first erotic novel series in Sri Lanka '' Faculty of sex''. He is an active blogger since 2010 and his blo
CULT
is a popular platform which discusses current social, political and cultural issues. His articles are published weekly in the 'Randiva' national newspaper under the title of his blog

Cult Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...

. The book 'Cult : Bibili Nangina Belikatu' was published in 2012 which includes a collection of his articles published on the blog. He also co-authored a book on his film ''How I Wonder What You Are'' which was a collective of critiques and reviews received for the film. Dharmadasa is a songwriter, and a novelist whose stories are published weekly in a national paper. Dharmadasa hosted several film programs at local television stations

Sirasa TV Sirasa TV is a digital, terrestrial television network in Sri Lanka. It is the sister channel of ' TV 1' (Previously MTV Channel and MTV Sports) which was established in 1992. Sirasa TV was started in 1998 as a sister to its radio network Sir ...

– ''Art Eka'',

Siyatha TV Siyatha TV is a private Sri Lankan 4K Ultra HD channel currently broadcasting in Sri Lanka in the Sinhala language. It is owned by the Voice of Asia Network (Pvt) Ltd, which also runs radio channels named Siyatha FM, Real Radio, Kiss FM and Vett ...

- ''Swaroopana'', and

Hiru TV Hiru TV () is the most watched television channel in Sri Lanka, founded by Rayynor Silva (Chairman) and owned by Asia Broadcasting Corporation. Hiru TV is Sri Lanka's first and only digital television channel which has the DVB-T2 pictures and st ...

- ''Cult Eka''.

Alternative Screening Platforms

Dharmadasa adopted an alternative screening method for his debut '' How I Wonder What You Are'' which targeted small audiences in different locations. Screenings were organized by various groups that were passionate towards the film. He then introduced this format of screenings as a platform for other indie filmmakers and film lovers to meet informally and share their thoughts and concepts and co-founded ''Kolamba Talkies''.

Advertising

Dharmadasa counts 5 years of experience in the advertising industry as a Sinhala copywriter and is currently working at 'Bates CHI & Strategic Alliance' as an Associate Creative Director.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dharmadasa, Chinthana Living people 1976 births Sri Lankan film directors