She had made an independent literary life for herself & she wishes to support other such women writers with talent to sharpen their skills with pen..!

Enokaa Sathyangani

Creativity comes alive
Enokaa Sathyangani Keerthinanda arms women writers to fly high:

Ruwini JAYAWARDANA


She had made an independent literary life for herself and she wishes to support other such women writers with talent to sharpen their skills with the pen. In this light she decided to spearhead Panhindaka Sanhinda, a workshop for amateur women writers and journalists, a platform to address a variety of subjects to enhance the quality and writing techniques of the participants as well as sharing their experience. According to globally acclaimed film director and script writer Enokaa Sathyangani Keerthinanda Panhindaka Sanhida fills a much needed void in a society where women's talents falls rarely under the spotlight. This is probably the first time that such a group of women will be gathered to demand their rightful position in the field of writing.

The workshop is funded by the Norwegian Embassy in Sri Lanka and comprises a number of classes which will help them to grade their potentials and bring out the best of their talent to nurture the realm of writing in the island.The one-day workshop will take place at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute on November 8 from 8.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. Media Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene will deliver the keynote address.

A series of lectures and discussions will be conducted by renowned personae in the field like Dr. Liyanage Amarakeerthi (Modern novel writing), Vasantha Obeysekara (Film script writing), Namel Weeramuni (Stage drama script writing), Vijitha Fernando (Translation literature), Theliwatte Joseph(Tamil Literature), Buddadasa Galappaththi (Modern poetry writing) and Saman Wickramarachchi (Short story writing).Around 50 female journalists and 150 amateur writers will take part in the workshop. The journalists will take part to share ideas, encourage and boost the morale of the other party whohope to venture into the literary arena.

"We advertised through the Sinhala, Tamil and English newspapers and received around a 1,500 applications. Out of these 150 were chosen.

A majority of the participants are studying at universities and a few have even published their own creations. Each of the participants will receive a certificate of participation at the end of the day," Keerthinanda expressed on her pioneering project. With years of experience of struggling to make it to the top, Enokaa says it is tedious to breakthrough the male dominant spheres to make a mark in the industry.

"I faced lots of obstacles in my career but determination kept me going. Countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and the Maldives have cultural and social limitations which prevent women from spearheading some projects. However within this scope they have established means of the female artiste to shine.

India has a leading film industry and Pakistan and Bangladesh have established organizations for female writers," she said.

The award winning writer's maiden movie Sulang Kirilli (Wind Bird) clinched the highest number of awards won by a local movie in the history of Sri Lankan cinema in 2003; 24 national awards at the Sarasaviya, OCIC (UNDA) and Presidential Film Festivals and a string of 10 international film awards including the award for best cinematographer at the New York Independent FilmFestival. She was also the first Sri Lankan female script writer to win an award for her work.

A product of Sujatha Vidyalaya and Visakha Vidyalaya, Colombo, Keerthinanda had shown signs of her talent for art from her schooldays when she had been in the forefront in clinching the prizes forcreative and art related competitions.

Since her father, Tudor Keerthinanda and brother, Panduka, pursued careers in law, she too turned to the subject before realizing that her talent and destiny laywith the arts.She started her dabble with creativity by taking over the position of television commercial director at Telecine (Pvt) Ltd. the largest television production company in South Asia in 1992 and the pioneering TV production company in Sri Lanka. Later she turned to directing teledramas, tele films and documentaries. Her first teledrama was Nidi Nethi Rayaka Sihinaya (A Dream in a Sleepless Night) and she directed some creations which ranked the highest audienceratings.

She won the best director award at the Sumathi Tele awards 1997 for Urumaladdo and the Sumathi Tele Award in 1997 for the best single episode teledrama and the OCIC Film and Television Award Ceremony 1996 for Nonagathayaka Nimaawa. Speaking on the techniques behind her forte, script writing, Enokaa said other than focusing on the stream of the plot and dialogues one needs to understand topics like camera angles, editing patterns and structural arrangements.

She noted that technical knowledge is very important for a script writer."Unfortunately most script writers do not possess this feature. That is why their scripts tend to go shallow.

In addition she is a member of the Colombo Independent Cinema Forum and though work is at a stand still now, she expresses hope that the team will organize some activities to rejuvenate the forum.She says she owns credit to Dr. D.B. Nihalsinghe and D.B. Suranimala for brining her to television commercial directing, Teleview Chairman Sunil Ratnayake for giving her the opportunity to direct her first teledrama and Dr. Tissa Abeysekara for guiding her to films. "We have a longstanding plan after the workshop.

We hope to carry on the mission of recognizing and polishing the writing skills of women through conducting workshops, setting aside a particular day for each subject.

Some of the most experienced individuals on the subjects will take part and impart their knowledge and tips,"she noted.Each year five participants who display the most promising talent will get the opportunity to see their work in print. Having written all her scripts for her creations Keerthinanda will take to directing a script penned by another writer for the first time in her upcoming creation. She will be directing Mashenkage Lokaya, a teledrama based on seasoned writer Sumithra Rahubadde'sscript.

The project is expected to take shape in around six months. After a seven year lapse she is working on her second movie script, yet another art movie. Yet she says that though many producers have invited her to join them in directing a partly commercial movie of artistic value, she was not keen on the idea."Movie-making is a means of self expression. We do not target a specific audience when we indulge on a creation.

It is true that the movie should at least earn enough profit to cover the cost but for me doing justice to the creation comes first," she added, hinting that if ever a producer who understands her mission comes forward to lend a hand, she will not think twice in launching the project.She is grateful to all those who had lent a hand in her career including her husband Saman Wickramaratne, and daughter, Shanki, whom she brands as her 'source of inspiration'.

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