Stigma (Chaminda Ilukwela) Sri Lanka. Official Section |

Stigma
Chaminda Ilukwela
Sri Lanka. 2023. 96 min

The movie opens up with an accidental death of a 30 years old youth. At the autopsy, investigators find his identity card which belongs to ‘Revatha the Buddhist monk’. It stirs the hornet’s nest in the neighborhood where Revatha used to live, as at the time of his death, he had disrobed. Therefore, parishioners of his temple object to bringing his body to the temple and holding a monk’s funeral.
Then the movie begins to reveal the backstory till his death.

CHAMINDA ILUKWELA

Chaminda Ilukwela does have a 20 years long vast experience as a prolific art director. Throughout his entire career, he has given much of his contribution for way over 30 films including 5 international films as a set decorator. Moreover, he has contributed for over 100 local Television Dramas as an assistant director of art and as the director of art. Also, he has worked as a costume designer for various television commercials and as a resource person for Screen Printing. Ilukwela has followed a 3-year long course on traditional art and sculpture under the supervision of Kalasoori Charles Dias.

DIRECTOR´S NOTE

The basis for Magam Soli is a real life incident that took place in the Sigiriya area close to the city of Dambulla.
Magam Soli aims to bring to public discourse the life of this monk beyond his monastic life into the realm of him as a human being.
Through this story what we strived to do bring to the screen is the psychological nexus between familial bonds, a mother’s love and the deep roots with religion of the human being behind the veneer of the monk and the inability of society to see beyond the robes of the monk to the human being behind it and comprehend the most basic of human bonds.
Indeed, this is not a story of a saffron robed monk but a cross-sectional study of human emotions within society.