Biography

Lanka Bandaranayke is an award-winning short film producer, director, writer, actor and costume designer from Sri Lanka. Her debut short film Tradition (2016) was made in 2016. The film was screened in over 50 international film festivals including Open Doors screenings at Locarno Film Festival in 2018, Cannes Corner a Festival de Cannes 2017, France and 21st Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival (Reel Asian) 2017, Canada...etc. The film won a jury special award at the 9th SAARC Film Festival, 2019, Sri Lanka, best short film (Film student award) at the 12th Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival 2017, Indonesia, best cinematography at "Euro Kino" Czech International Film Festival 2017, Czech Republic, 2nd best Film at National Youth Cinematic Harvest 2016, Sri Lanka.

In 2020, Lanka made Inheritance (2020) with the partnership of the British Council Sri Lanka in the Female Filmmakers First program and the short film won the jury special award at Colombo International Women's Film Festival 2020, Sri Lanka. Her short film Mahasona (2021) is selected for various film festivals including Tasveer South Asian Film Festival 2021 in Washington, USA and distributed on their TV platform. Since then, she has been making several short films and most of her films problematic gender inequality in Sri Lanka and portray controversies between traditional values and contemporary relationships.

She is the main director of the documentary "She", the project that connects women peace builders from Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand. She is a member of South Asian Cinema and VOD Network, a collaborative and interdisciplinary research project in the United Kingdom. Her debut feature film project "The Hail" was selected for Film Independent - Global Media Makers in-person residency in 2022 in Los Angeles, USA.

Lanka has been working as an award-winning actor and costume designer since 1998. She was a jury and curator for fiction at the Sound & Image Challenge International Festival in 2018 and 2019 in Macau. In 2019 she received the ITEC scholarship to study a filmmaking certificate course at the Satyajit Ray Film and Television School in Kolkata, India. In 2021 she received a Chevening Scholarship for her Master's degree which she completed with distinction in Directing Film and Television at Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom.
- IMDb mini biography by: Biography