Co-Founder and Director: Samuel Holt
sam@kandyinternationalfilmfestival.com
Sam first traveled to Sri Lanka at the age of 4 and spent several years of his childhood living in Kandy. In 2003, he shot his first feature documentary ”HaroHara: Pilgrimage to Kataragama, Sri Lanka,” a film profiling a band of pilgrims traveling down the East Coast of Sri Lanka to attend the Esala Festival at Kataragama. He continues to work on documentary projects throughout the island including the recently completed “Okanda,” a short film about the water cutting ceremony at Okanda (2011) in South East Sri Lanka.
Sam also received a Masters in Anthropology from the New School for Social Research in New York (2010).
Co-Founder: Ethan Higbee
ethan@kandyinternationalfilmfestival.com
Ethan Higbee is an American Filmmaker and Music Producer working in Los Angeles. His latest feature film, “The Upsetter,” will be released to audiences world wide in January of 2011. The film is narrated by Academy Award winner Benicio Del Toro and has premiered at over 30 festivals world wide.
He is a graduate of the Kandbar Institute of Film & Television at New York University’s Tisch School of The Arts.
Co-Founder: Suba Sivakumaran
suba@kandyinternationalfilmfestival.com
Suba Sivakumaran has assisted on Sri Lankan film productions and on film related work in New York, USA, as part of the Digital Film Academy. She has previously worked in the field of education in Sri Lanka, investment banking in London and currently works as a researcher in the field of microfinance, business and development for the United Nations Development Programme.
Suba is a graduate of the London School of Economics and of the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
Coordinator: Dhanushka Gunatilake
dhanushka@kandyinternationalfilmfestival.com
Dhanushka Gunathilake has a strong background in film as a director, producer, cinematographer and educator. He produced the first ever internationally franchised reality show in Sri Lanka, “Obada Lakshapathi Mamada Lakshapathi” (“Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”) in 2010. He has worked on a variety of commercial productions including “The Amazing Race” (India 2008) and 10 music videos to date. He has produced, shot and consulted on film projects for the BBC, International Planned Parenthood Federation, UNSECO, the United Nations Development Program, the National Child Protection Authority (Sri Lanka), the Red Cross (Singapore) and Education TV unit of the Rupavahini Corporation.
He has taught courses in film production at The Indira School of Communication (Pune, India), St. Xavier’s College (Mumbai, India), The University of Peradeniya (Sri Lanka) and the University of Visual and Performing Arts – Colombo (Sri Lanka). Dhanushka also designed and coordinated the diploma for Sri Lanka Television Training Institute at the request of the Presidential Secretariat of Sri Lanka.
Dhanushka received his BSc in Information Technology from Edith Corwen University (Perth, Australia), an MA in Film and Television from the Rai University (Pune and Mumbai, India) and a Post Grad Diploma from the Film and Television Institute of India (Pune, India).
Director of Program Development: Dilshanie Perera
dilshanie@kandyinternationalfilmfestival.com
Dilshanie is a reporter, editor, and media strategist living in Princeton, New Jersey. She has interviewed and written about various public figures including: Professor and intellectual Cornel West; Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jeffrey Eugenides; New York Times science reporter Gina Kolata; Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Director General of the United States Suresh Kumar; Professor and novelist Chang-rae Lee; Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Director Scott McVay; and Princeton University President Shirley Tilghman.
Dilshanie is a graduate of the University of Chicago, where she was also active in the annual Festival of the Arts.