SANTA BARBARA HOSTS THE SECOND CEYLON INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL!

The Only Festival to Feature Sri Lankan Films Outside Sri Lanka Runs from Oct. 23 to Oct. 28, 2023

Santa Barbara, CA, USA (October 3, 2023) – Colombo, Sri Lanka and Santa Barbara,
California are separated by 9,301 miles and 12.5 time zone hours. However, Sri
Lanka is once again coming to Santa Barbara in the form of the 2nd Ceylon
International Film Festival (CEYIFF) which will run from Monday, October 23 to
Saturday, October 28, 2023.

CEYIFF is the only film festival in the world to feature Sri Lankan films outside Sri
Lanka. For those seeking cinematic adventure, CEYIFF 2023 offers 4 feature films
and 15 accompanying shorts selected by a jury of industry professionals from
California and Sri Lanka. The broad array of films includes features from Sri
Lanka, Japan and USA as well as fiction, documentaries and animation. The
program will include a classic of Sri Lankan cinema, The Rainy Day, by Bhadraji
Mahinda Jayathilaka, who will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award
during the Awards Gala.

CEYIFF 2022
The 1st CEYIFF ran from June 10 to June 12, 2022 in Santa Barbara. In recognition
of this groundbreaking achievement, Congressperson Salud Carbajal issued a
Congressional Certificate commemorating CEYIFF’s launch in Santa Barbara. A
number of local elected officials attended the opening night reception which
included remarks from the Sri Lankan Consul General to the United States.
Moreover, the 1st CEYIFF was a cinematic success, featuring interesting and
accomplished films from Sri Lanka, ranging widely in substance and style, from
searing social drama to supernational thriller. It was an eye-opening excursion
through a rarely seen but vital and growing component of world cinema.

Seventeen awards were given in 2022, with the Newspaper taking the prize for Best
Picture (link to review: CEYIFF Film Review: The Newspaper – Edhat).
The pandemic combined with economic circumstances prevented artists from
traveling to Santa Barbara. However, an awards ceremony was held in Colombo,
Sri Lanka on February 10, 2023 with the US Ambassador to the United States in
attendance along with other key leaders in the Sri Lankan film industry. The
awards were presented in collaboration with the Cinestar Foundation’s founder
and president Dr. Jayantha Dharmadasa and under Dr. Kishu Gomez’s leadership
CEYIFF 2022 received international press attention: News & Blogs – Ceylon
International Film Festival (ceyiff.com)