Boodee Keerthisena

Vishvanath Buddhika Keerthisena, widely-known as Boodee Keerthisena, is an exceptional film director, screenwriter and an editor who has succeeded in marking a turning point in Sri Lankan cinema. He is much appreciated for the experimentation and multifariousness of his productions. Since his childhood Boodee was passionately involved in drawing comics which gradually persuaded him to explore the arenas of painting, fashion designing and visual arts. He moved into the field of music in the late 80s as the lead singer of the band, Boo-Dee and the Woo-Zees. He has also been writing columns for newspapers every now and then. After working with a local theatre group in Colombo, he joined the School of Visual arts in New York City to study film and television in 1987. Boodee graduated in 1995 presenting Veils of Maya (Sihina Deshayen) as his thesis, which was to win 31 awards later in several film festivals. Most remarkably, seven of the awards were presented to Boodee including the Best Film and the Best Director. During his time in New York City he met his friend Stephen Farber who introduced Boodee to Looking Glass Studios, in which he was consequently employed. The two friends collaborated with late Allen Ginsberg, Philip Glass and John Moran to a documentary on Late 20th Century Opera Composers. Boodee directed the documentary and co-produced it with Faber. Returning to Sri Lanka, he has been directing and co-writing a string of diverse and experimental cinematic productions since, also contributing to numerous tv series and documentaries, redefining the Sri Lankan domains of these fields. As much as he introduced an experimental arena to Sri Lankan cinema in 1996 with Veils of Maya, he ushered in a unique acting style which was natural and realistic through Buongiorno Italia (Mille Soya) in 2004. Heralded as a fresh new approach to Sri Lankan cinema, it was also identified as a part of an international wave of neo-realism by critics such as Amy Taubin. He contributed as the director and visual effects supervisor to the feature film Matha in 2009. The film has won eight awards including the best cinematography and visual effects in two different film festivals. Boodee is also a two time SIGNIS award winner as a best director. He has also won two FIPRESCI film critcs awards in 1994 for most outstanding cinematic contribution and most promising director. He recently completed his latest film Alone in a Valley (Nimnayaka Hudakalawa) and he has already commenced shooting Adventures of Ricky Deen, his next adventure, using two iPhones; yet another novel experimentation in cinema.