On Sunday, Nov. 23, Los Angeles Filmforum presents a special screening of Your Touch Makes Others Invisible, the debut feature from CalArts alum Rajee Samarasinghe (Film/Video MFA 16). Samarasinghe, who was named a Guggenheim fellow earlier this year, will introduce the film in person.
A synthesis of documentary and fiction, the film examines the complex and suppressed history of enforced disappearances carried out by military forces during Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war. Fifteen years after the war’s end in 2009, families, mostly members of the minority Tamil community, are still searching for their loved ones.
More about Your Touch Makes Others Invisible from the Filmforum:
The film’s episodic construction advances a set of propositions around a spectral void, namely the absent bodies of those who are missing. This otherworldly quality is reinforced by present-day drone footage of war-torn areas, seemingly idyllic and scar-free, that has the texture of an alien incursion.
Shot on location in Sri Lanka, Samarasinghe’s film emerged from a close collaboration with members of the Tamil community. While filming, the production encountered both emotional and logistical challenges, such as ongoing surveillance by military and intelligence agents, the threat of arrest, and the risk of footage being confiscated.
Your Touch Makes Others Invisible was produced by Tabs Breese and CalArts alums—and founders of Hello Benjamin Films—Maggie Corona-Goldstein (Theater MFA 15), DaManuel Richardson (Film/Video MFA 16), and Solomon Turner (Film/Video MFA 15).
The film had its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR). Additional upcoming screenings include a presentation at Now Instant Image Hall in Los Angeles’ Chinatown on Thursday, Dec. 11.
