Akash Sunethkumara
Akash Sunethkumara | |
|---|---|
| Born | Akash Sunethkumara 19 January 1994 |
| Occupation | Filmmaker |
| Years active | 2015-present |
| Website | https://www.highschooljunkies.com |
Akash Sunethkumara (Akash Sk) is a Sri Lankan filmmaker, writer and actor.[1]
Early life
[edit]Akash Sunethkumara was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He is an alumnus of St. Nicholas' International College Negombo and Staffordshire University.[2][3]
Career
[edit]High School Junkies
[edit]In 2016, Sunethkumara formed a filmmaking collective with a group of friends titled High School Junkies. Together, he created his first publicly released short film EIDETIC which was his Masters thesis project.[4][5] A low-budgeted short of $300, EIDETIC screened at various film festivals including San Diego Comic-Con's Independent Film Festival.[6][7] In 2018, he directed a short horror titled The Summoning.[8][9] Later in 2019, he released a mini-follow up to The Summoning titled The Friend which was also published on Crypt TV.[10] Sunethkumara directed The Knight Out in 2020, a project marketed as an "action musical" which merged the concepts of a music video with martial arts action.[11][12]
In 2022, Sunethkumara helmed Temporal, a time-travel sci-fi short film about a physicist who races against time to prevent the death of his girlfriend.[13] The film required eight months of work to complete[14] and was experimental to determine how well they could "localize a western sci-fi concept".[15] It was the first project that Sunethkumara and the team had done in collaboration with an external party[16] and also the first project where they collaborated with veteran Sri Lankan actor Lakshman Mendis.[17] Sumner Forbes of Film Threat stated "I was mightily impressed by the production value that Sunethkumara brings to bear in this 30-minute film. The director never loses sight of the film’s strengths, which are the entertaining temporal contradictions that come from leaping back into the recent past, recalling Shane Carruth’s Primer."[18] Sunethkumara collaborated in 2023 with Sri Lankan actress Yureni Noshika on Teddy, a short film that tackled the "constant realities for so many in relationships and marriages not just in Sri Lanka but across the globe".[19]
Junkyard Theory
[edit]Sunethkumara started a podcast during the COVID-19 pandemic called Junkyard Theory where he hosts filmmakers from Hollywood on a livestream.[20] The first education platform of its kind in Sri Lanka, it also offers short modular film courses.[21][22] Sunethkumara has hosted prominent names in the industry such as Louis Leterrier, Mike Knobloch, John Toll, Paul Hirsch, Donald Sylvester, Richard Norton, Joel Crawford and Simon Barry.[3][23]
Maktüb Studios
[edit]In 2024, Sunethkumara started a new studio with his fiancée, titled Maktüb Studios. The new venture aims to create feature films, moving away from the shorts he created with High School Junkies.[24]
Filmography
[edit]| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | EIDETIC | First Sri Lankan short film accepted in San Diego Comic-Con's Independent Film Festival |
| 2018 | The Summoning | |
| 2019 | The Friend | Published on Crypt TV |
| 2020 | The Knight Out | |
| 2022 | Temporal | |
| 2023 | Teddy | |
| 2024 | Hooves | Upcoming and final short film[24] |
References
[edit]- ^ "Akash Sk". High School Junkies. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
- ^ "This time it's horror: High School Junkies strike again". The Sunday Times Sri Lanka. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
- ^ a b "Meet the movie wizards". Print Edition - The Sunday Times, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 2021-07-17.
- ^ Degree, Raindance Postgraduate (2017-06-01). ""Eiditic" to Screen at San Diego Comic Con". Raindance. Retrieved 2019-07-26.
- ^ "Eidetic". calendar.raindancefestival.org. Archived from the original on 2019-07-12. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
- ^ ""EIDETIC" drags the world attention to Sri Lanka". 2017-09-17. Retrieved 2021-04-11 – via PressReader.
- ^ "Sri Lanka's Top Short Films of 2016". YAMU. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
- ^ Charles, Baptiste (2019-07-11). "Raindance MA Alumni Akash Sk shoots horror short "The Summoning"". Raindance. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
- ^ "The Summoning – a testament to clever filmmaking". The Morning - Sri Lanka News. 2018-11-04. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
- ^ "The High School Junkies Have A Short Film Out". Decibel. 2019-05-24. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
- ^ Wijesinghe, Dimithri. "The Knight Out | ද නයිට් අවුට් | an action musical by Akash Sunethkumara". The Morning.
- ^ Clarke, Lucy (2020-09-07). "The Knight Out Short Film Review". UK Film Review. Retrieved 2021-04-11.
- ^ Wijesinghe, Dimithri (2022-03-08). "Temporal: Proof that Sri Lankan cinema can do better". Brunch. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
- ^ "Shooting a paradox on time". Print Edition - The Sunday Times, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
- ^ "Temporal Disruption". CeylonToday. Retrieved 2022-04-13.
- ^ "High School Junkies takes on Sci-Fi". The Morning - Sri Lanka News. 2021-10-12. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
- ^ ""WE THINK WE HAVE TIME" A PHYSICIST RISKS EVERYTHING TO RIGHT A WRONG IN SCI-FI SHORT'TEMPORAL' - Life | Daily Mirror". www.dailymirror.lk. Retrieved 2022-03-29.
- ^ "Temporal | Film Threat". 2022-04-19. Retrieved 2022-04-23.
- ^ Kadupitiyage, Shanuka (2023-06-23). "What Teddy saw, we can no longer ignore". Ceylon Today. Retrieved 2024-06-16.
- ^ "How One Sri Lankan Filmmaker Got Tips from Hollywood Masters". No Film School. 2021-04-09. Retrieved 2021-04-11.
- ^ "The Art Of Filmmaking: How Junkyard Theory is uncovering the best tricks and tips of filmmaking - Life Online". www.life.lk. Retrieved 2021-09-17.
- ^ "What is the Junkyard Theory?". The Morning - Sri Lanka News. 2021-01-10. Retrieved 2021-04-11.
- ^ "A year of Junkyard Theory: Akash Sunethkumara". The Morning - Sri Lanka News. 2021-06-06. Retrieved 2021-07-17.
- ^ a b Kadupitiyage, Shanuka (2024-07-25). "From shorts to feature films". Ceylon Today. Retrieved 2024-08-01.