Demons in Paradise

Synopsis

Sri Lanka, 1983: Jude Ratnam was five years old. He fled the massacre of the Tamils instigated by the majority-Sinhalese government on a red train. Now a filmmaker, he takes the same train from the south to the north of the island. As he advances, the traces of violence left by the twenty-six-year war, which turned the Tamil minority’s fight for freedom into self-destructive terrorism, pass before his eyes. Unveiling the repressed memories of his compatriots, he invites them to overcome their anger and opens the door to a possible reconciliation.

Festivals & awards

• Cannes Film Festival - Official Selection - Special screenings, 2017
• Best of Fests — IDFA (Amsterdam), 2017
• Best Documentary — Festival International du Film d'Histoire (Pessac), 2017
• International competition — War On Screen (Chalons en Champagne, France), 2017
• International competition — Festival du Film d'Asie du Sud (Paris), 2017
• Douarnenez Film Festival - Grande Tribu Selection, 2017
• Best movie price / Price Ram Bahadur — Film South Asia (Kathmandu, Nepal), 2017
• Opening movie — États généraux du film documentaire (Lussas), 2017
• Documentary competition — Hamburg IFF (Germany), 2017
• Special projection — Varsovie Film Festival, 2017
• Official selection — Festival du Film Indépendant de Osnabrück (Allemagne), 2017
• Documentary competition — Adelaide Film Festival (Australia), 2017
• Compétition documentaire — Escales documentaires (La Rochelle), 2017
• Locarno Festival (Swizterland), 2018
• Varsovie IFF (Poland), 2018
• One World International Human Rights (Prague, Czech Republic), 2018
• Dok.Fest Internationales Dokumentarfilmfestival München (Munich, Allemagne), 2018
• Mumbai International Film Festival (India), 2018
• CPH:DOX (Danemark), 2018
• This is Human World - International Human Rights Film Festival (Australie), 2018
• 3rd I Film Festival (San Fransisco), 2018
• Rendez-vous with Madness Festival (Canada), 2018
• International Film Festival of Kerala (Morocco), 2018
• Prix "Tolérance", section internationale — FIDADOC (Morocco), 2018
• "Tolerance" price, international section — International Film Festival Bosnia Herzegovina Looks Around (Paris), 2020