The Lamp of Truth film

If a team is formed with a bunch of activists, technical experts, and a director passionate about movie-making team up with a doctor who was part of the medical team that treated thousands of war-wounded Tamils in a tiny strip in the last phase of genocidal war, the result is "The Lamp of Truth". The story brings part of Sri Lanka's genocide against Tamils to the world. A team of community activists formed a Canadian corporation White Conch Studios to produce it. An engineer took the responsibility of a director with his script to craft this movie all the way from concept to finish. The doctor whose horrible experience turned to movie script came forward to play his own role. 

The only experienced film production person in this core movie team was the cinematographer and executive producer but he was given a tight budget. After a long journey with a mountain of challenges, but finally, the movie is selected to a prestigious Indian Goa film festival competing with six other international movies for the UNESCO Gandhi Medal. The six other movies competing with "The Lamp of Truth" Canadian film are "Pamyra" Rusian film, "200 Meters"  Palestine / Jordan / Italy / Sweden film, "An Old Lady" South Korean film, "Berlin Alexanderplatz" a German film, and "Red Soil (Rogue)" a Belgium / France film. 

 The Lamp of Truth film screen on Jan 17, 2021 at the Goa film festival


https://filmguide.iffigoa.org/detail/?id=4924

One of the reviews said "The Lamp of Truth is an important film that seeks to shed light about the genocide that took place in Sri Lanka during the 26 years of its civil war. In a painful yet beautiful way, the director unveils the atrocities the war brought on the Tamil people in Sri Lanka. The agony, the displaced citizens, the despair and the fading hope."https://www.hlc-cultcritic.com/the-lamp-of-truth-by-thanesh-gopal/

One of the premier screening viewers said "The director of this movie created a scene of placing a wheel right after the death of that innocent boy - which tally with the same feel of Karna dying at the wheel in the Mahabharata. This movie has given absolute justice to an inch aspect out of the many inhumane happenings in Sri Lanaka"

https://whiteconchstudios.com/viewer-comments/

As a genocidal regime like Sri Lanka preaches, forgetting the past is not a solution. In fact, the victims wanted their stories heard by the world and some form of justice served. Ten years past, the Tamil film industry didn't put enough effort to bring the Tamil side of the stories out. This movie could be the product out to set an example for future efforts as movies tell the stories better than other mediums. 



The movie also touched on some important facts about the UN food convey in the side story. After UNHRC left the Tamil areas later part of 2008, a UN official went to the war zone captured evidence of war crimes and genocide in early 2009. He reported it to UNHRC through his notes and photos. The film captured this as well. This part of the evidence was not widely known to world media.



The Doctor was detained for approximately a hundred days and coerced into giving false testimony in a staged news conference in Colombo. The doctor was forced to reduce the casualty figures in the government arranged press conference was well captured and was the highlight of the film. The film is 90 minutes in length and was certified 14A in Ontario, Canada..


Making a film especially these types are difficult and has many challenges. This movie project itself from start to finish ran into many challenges, and it finally hit the COVID19 hurdle as well. Financially, the WCS reported that they recovered 15% of the budget according to their 2020 July reporting (https://whiteconchstudios.com/statementjuly6/). After winning several awards in 2020 and finally selected for the prestigious Goa film festival and compete for the UNESCO medal, we can expect this movie will hit the theaters again it open. 

Disclaimer: The Author of this article is affiliated with White Conch Studios

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