BIOGRAPHY
Born in 1962, Prasanna Vithanage became involved in theatre on leaving school.
He translated and directed Bernad Shaw's 'Arms and the Man' in 1986, and Dario Fo's 'Raspberries and Trumpets' in 1991.
In 1992, he directed his first film ' Sisila Gini Gani ' (Ice on Fire). It won nine OCIC (Sri Lanka) Awards including Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress.
Four years later in 1996 was his second feature ' Anantha Rathriya ' (Dark Night of the Soul), which he wrote and directed.
It participated in several international film Festivals and won a Jury's Special Mention at the First Pusan International Film festival. The film also won all the main awards at the 1996 Sri Lanka Film Critics Forum Awards (affiliated to FIPRESCI) including awards for Most Outstanding Film, Best Director and Best Scriptwriter.
'Pawuru Walalu' (Walls Within), his third feature in 1997 won the Best Actress Award for Nita Fernando in her role as Violet, at the 1998 Singapore International Film Festival. It even won ten out of eleven awards in Best Picture and Best Director at the Sri Lanka Film Critics Forum Awards.
His fourth feature ' Purahanda Kaluwara ' (Death on A Full Moon Day) of the same year, 1997, which he wrote and directed was produced by NHK (Japanese Broadcasting Corporation). It won the Grand Prix at the Amiens Film Festival. Initially banned by the government of Sri Lanka, it has since become the most successful film in the more than half a century history of cinema in Sri Lanka.
Prasanna Vithanage completed “Ira Madiyama”, his 05th film in 2003. it was on to win many international awards and was featured prominently in the world festival circuit.
In 2007, Vithanage co-produced the hit film "Machan," a comedy about a group of working class con artists posting as a handball team, directed by "Full Monty" producer Uberto Pasolini. "Machan" premiered at the 65th Venice Film Festival in 2008.
2008 also saw the World Premiere of Prasanna Vithanage's 6th feature film as director, "Akasa Kusum (Flowers of the Sky)" in Pusan, South Korea. The film is currently touring the festival circuit and will be released into Sri Lankan cinemas in July 2009.
