Machan (2008 Film)
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''Machan'' is a 2008
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
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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
comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...
written, directed, and produced by Uberto Pasolini as his directorial debut about the made-up Sri Lankan National Handball Team that vanished in 2004.


Background

Based upon a true story, the film was shot on locations in
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, ...
and Germany. The inspiration came from the actual case of the 2004 incident, where a fake Sri Lankan national handball team tricked its way into a German tournament, lost all of their matches, and subsequently vanished. Production spent several weeks speaking with people in the less fortunate areas of
Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...
and used the people met through that research to create the backgrounds of the main characters. When director Uberto Pasolini heard of the incident, he stated "I fell in love with the story so much that I decided to shoot it myself". Under the working title of ''Handball'', the film was produced and financed by Redgrave Films (UK), Rai Cinema (Italy), Babelsberg Films (Germany), and Shakthi Films (Sri Lanka), and had its premiere at the
Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...
in August 2008, where it received a 10-minute standing ovation. After the film completed its rounds of film festivals, it had commercial theatrical debut in Italy in September 2009, and was then picked up by UGC for theatrical distribution in Germany, France, Switzerland, Canada, Belgium, Norway and Sweden, and by Yume Pictures for theatrical release in the United Kingdom October 2009 and DVD distribution April 2010.


Synopsis

Two friends, Manoj (Gihan De Chickera), a bartender, and Stanley (Dharmapriya Dias), a fruit vendor, wish to immigrate to the West to seek their fortune, but have difficulties getting their visa applications approved. They come across an application to a
handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...
tournament in
Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...
, and not even knowing what the game is, they submit themselves and a group of friends as the "Sri Lanka National Handball Team". For appearance's sake, they begin minimal training and then seek travel visas from the German Embassy. Manoj leaves the group at the last moment, but the rest fly to Germany. Their plan is to simply escape into the West upon arrival in Germany are thwarted by the quick appearance of the tournament organizers and an arena of fans eager to see the powers of the Sri Lanka National Handball Team. After losing the first matches without any goals, the team finally shoots a goal, which makes them overjoyed. The next morning, the police arrives and searches the hotel, but could not find any trace of the Sri Lankan Handball team. Later, it is shown that each member goes on his own path to various different countries in Europe.


Cast

* Dharmapriya Dias as Stanley, addressed as "Machan" * Gihan De Chickera as Manoj * Darshan Dharmaraj as Suresh * Namal Jayasinghe as Vijith * Sujeewa Priyalal as Piyal * Ravi Kumar as Neville * Saumya Liyanage * Irangani Serasinghe as Auntie Magie * Dayadewa Edirisinghe as Naseem * Sarath Karunaratne as PK * Mangala Pradeep Kumara as VD * Mahendra Perera as Ruwan * Chathurika Pieris as Shalini * Pradeepan Puwabalasingham as AJ * Ronika Rannetthi as Esther * Pitchchei Selvaraj as Nesa * Jayani Senanayake as Jassmine * Pubudu Chathuranga * Sarath Kothalawala * Lakshman Mendis as Vijitha's father * Deepani Silva as their spoilt son's mother * Nino Araliya Jayakody * Bandula Vithanage as a drunk person * Seetha Kumari as Manoj's grandmother * Leonie Kotelawala as Neighbour


Reception

''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' wrote, "There is more ingenuity, guts and brilliance in the developing world as depicted in Uberto Pasolini's film than anything Hollywood can cobble together ... There had never been a single handball team in the whole country, let alone a national side, and the scam has to go down as one of the most ingenious illegal immigration ploys ever undertaken."


Awards and nominations

* 2008, Won FEDIC Award at
Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...
* 2008, Won Label Europa Cinemas Award for Best European film at
Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...
* 2008, Nominated for International Jury Award at
São Paulo International Film Festival The São Paulo International Film Festival (), also known internationally as Mostra, is an annual film festival held in the city of São Paulo, Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South Ame ...
* 2008, Won Audience Award at Kerala International Film Festival * 2009, Won Audience Award for Best Film at
Transilvania International Film Festival The Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF; ) is the first international feature film festival in Romania, which is held annually in the historic capital of Transylvania, Cluj-Napoca. Founded in 2002 by the Romanian Film Promotion (), TIFF ...
* 2009, Won Best Feature Film at Palm Beach International Film Festival * 2009, Won Best Screenplay at
Durban International Film Festival The Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) is an annual film festival that takes place in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa. It was founded in 1979 by Teddy Sarkin and Ros Sarkin. Presented by Centre for Creative Arts at the Univ ...
* 2009, Won Golden Iris for Best Film at Brussels European Film Festival * 2009, Won RTBF TV Prize for Best Picture at Brussels European Film Festival * 2009, Won Award of the Mayor of the City of
Trenčín Trenčín (, also known by other #Names and etymology, alternative names) is a List of towns in Slovakia, city in western Slovakia of the central Váh River valley near the Czech Republic, Czech border, around from Bratislava. It has a populati ...
at Art Film Festival * 2010, Won Best Film of the Year at the
Sarasaviya Awards ''Sarasaviya Awards'' (Sinhala:සරසවිය සම්මාන) is an award bestowed to distinguished individuals involved with the Sinhala cinema, each year by the Sarasaviya weekly newspaper in collaboration with the Associated Newspapers ...


References


External links

* {{Uberto Pasolini 2008 films 2000s Sinhala-language films 2000s sports comedy films Films about immigration Sri Lankan comedy films Handball films Films produced by Prasanna Vithanage 2008 comedy films Films set in Sri Lanka Films set in Bavaria 2008 directorial debut films Films directed by Uberto Pasolini