131’83 (2016)

Sumudu Athukorala (b. 1979), Sumedha Kelegama (b. 1988), Irushi Tennekoon (b. 1989)

Stop motion animation (4.38 min)

Collection the artists

First screened: Agenda 14 Short Film Festival, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2016

The animation is a fictional account about a middle-aged Sinhalese man named Anton, who lives with his wife in a small house in Colombo. His life is filled with despair and guilt following the riots of July 1983, otherwise known as ‘Black July’. During the anti-Tamil riots, Sinhalese rioters asked people to say the Sinhala word “baaldhiya” (bucket). They would be identified as Tamil when they would pronounce the word incorrectly and say “paaldhiya” instead. The animation portrays how Anton becomes afflicted by his actions of that night. After many years have passed, he begins to have nightmares and finds himself whispering “paaldhiya” while he sleeps. Possessed by his fear he wakes up one night and goes to his garden where he begins to dig. As he digs he finds a bucket (baaldhiya) buried deep in the earth. As he attempts to grasp it, he realizes that it is filled with blood. He tries to throw it out, and instead it flows out like a waterfall and he is swept away by this river of blood. Everything then turns red. Presumably, the events that occur are a part of a recurring nightmare caused by Anton’s festering guilt following Black July.

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