- This event is over. However, time travel possible through our Audio & Video! See upcoming events
In Search of the Malwatu Oya
Journey into an Ancient Civilization
Speaker
Documentary | 31 mins | English | 2019 | Sri Lanka
Link to the trailer
In Search of the Malwatu Oya is a journey to the heart of an ancient civilization. Starting from the holy mountain of Ritigala, Malwatu River, the second longest river (102 miles) in Sri Lanka, flows across the face of the Raja Rata (Land of the Kings) to enter the Bay of Mannar of the Indian Ocean. The most historic river basin in Sri Lanka, called Malwatu Oya in the native language, the River of Flower Gardens, lies at the very heart of the beginning of Sri Lanka’s ancient civilization.
This film is the recipient of the Best Short Documentary Film Award, Mokkho International Film Festival, Pondicherry 2021; Best Short Documentary, Rome International Movie Awards 2022; Short Film Award, Mumbai International Film Festival 2022; Best Documentary Short Film Award, International Motion Picture Festival of India 2022.
The screening will be followed by a discussion between Filmmaker SinhaRaja Tammita- Delgoda and Rahul Jacob, Former Foreign Correspondent, Financial Times. A Q&A session with the audience will follow.
Speaker
SinhaRaja Tammita- Delgoda
Historian, Art Historian, Academic, Writer, Explorer and Award Winning Filmmaker, Dr. SinhaRaja Tammita- Delgoda is an authority on the art, history and culture of Sri Lanka.
He has published many scholarly articles on the early colonial period in India and Sri Lanka and is a contributor to the University of Peradeniya History of Sri Lanka(Vol.II) and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. He has taught and lectured in the USA, UK, India and Sri Lanka, and in middle of the Indian Ocean.
His 1st book, A Travellers History of India (UK, USA, 1994), a sweeping survey of Indian culture and history for travellers, is now in its 5th edition worldwide and has been translated into Chinese and Russian, amongst other world languages He is the author of four major works on Sri Lanka’s artistic heritage.
In 2019 he led an expedition to explore Sri Lanka’s most historic river, in the far north west of the island. His 1st film, a short documentary, In Search of the Malwatu Oya, has won 6 international awards.
Rahul Jacob
Rahul Jacob worked for the Financial Times in Hong Kong and southern China for fifteen years as a foreign correspondent and an editor on the FT weekend in London, for which, in 2019, he profiled homes designed by Geoffrey Bawa and wrote about the great Sri Lankan textile designer Barbara Sansoni. He is a columnist for the business daily Mint.
