Congratulations to UT second year MFA student Chithra Jeyaram, the first recipient of the Dina Sherzer Scholarship Award for Social Awareness.She will receive $1500 to help fund her documentary film on the Tamils of Sri Lanka.

In one of the longest running civil wars of South Asia, the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka has been subject to massacre, coercion, abuse, violence and displacement by both the government and the separatist groups for nearly three decades. Yet this issue has received limited media attention compared to Darfur or that of Palestinians in Gaza. Lasantha Wickramatunga, a slain Sri Lankan Journalist said in his last published editorial essay, ““But there is a calling that is yet above high office, fame, lucre and security. It is the call of conscience.” Chithra pre-thesis film is a dedication to all those lives lost, displaced and scarred by the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.

Chithra a second year MFA student, ventured into film making by accident. Her decision to fund a documentary project in South India in 2004 sowed the seed for a career in film. Growing up she was exposed to a multitude of societal problems like poverty, communal riots, gender issues, caste based discrimination, urban and rural divide, linguistic fanaticism and the first gulf war. She was appalled by the violence and human displacement spawned by religious, linguistic and ethnic fanaticism.

Showtime is airing UT Alum PJ Raval’s film TRINIDAD during the months of June and July.

production still

Synopsis:
Trinidad uncovers Trinidad, Colorado’s transformation from Wild West outpost to “sex change capital of the world” and follows three influential transgender women whose impact on Trinidad may steer the rural ranching town toward becoming the “transsexual mecca.” TRT = 86 min.

Go to Showtime schedule for air times.

More about PJ Raval

The 12th Cine Las Americas International Film Festival, a competition designed to showcase the best of Latino and indigenous cinema, has recognized University of Texas at Austin MFA student Marianela Vega Oroza.

Her film Conversation II won the Jury Award for Best Documentary Short.

production still

The film offers an intimate look at the female universe; a journey in time through evocative images and the testimonies of women from the same family. Through the personal search of a daughter into the lives of her mother and grandmother, the film explores the evolution of the female role in a Latin American society and how the views of marriage and motherhood have changed with each generation, as well as the view that women have of themselves.

Also recognized at the festival was UT RTF recent graduate Gabriela Yepes. Her film, Danzak was awarded Best Narrative Short.

A sample of Yepes’ documentary work can be seen here.