Discovery Channel discovers Kataragama

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Discovery Channel discovers Kataragama

 

(Kataragama: 12 July 2000)

 

The Discovery Channel, a US-based television documentary network, has

dispatched one of its television teams to Sri Lanka from 6-19 July 2000

to produce a documentary about the Kataragama Pada Yatra and Esala

festival. The finished 18-minute segment will be telecast worldwide in

late October as part of a Discovery Channel special documentary.

 

Director Ms Heidi Ewing of Gabriel Films (USA) is presently in

Kataragama with producer-cameraman Marcos Franzoni of Italy along with

Sri Lankan support from the Kataragama Devotees Trust (KDT) and Warner

Innovations. The film unit just returned from Pottuvil, Panama and

Okanda where it videotaped scenes of foot pilgrimage, jungle wildlife,

and interviews with pilgrims.

 

In May director Ms Ewing accidentally discovered the new Internet

website of Kataragama (www.kataragama.org). Her original intention was

to make a documentary about kavadi rituals at Palani in South India. But

one visit to the extensive KDT website was enough to convince her that

the multi-religious Kataragama Esala festival would provide more

on-screen variety and colour.

 

According to Ms Ewing, American television viewers are completely

unfamiliar with Kataragama or, for that matter, Sri Lanka at all. The

present documentary, masterly crafted with technical input from Sri

Lankan director and Kataragama devotee Manik Sandrasagra, will give

worldwide exposure to Kataragama and place it overnight on the map of

adventurous spiritual seekers everywhere.

 

Ms Ewing says that she would like to undertake a series of

co-productions in collaboration with the Kataragama Devotees Trust and

the Cultural Survival Trust of Sri Lanka in the near future but declined

to give details. "It will be a big surprise for Sri Lankan and American

television viewers alike, so please stay tuned," she says.

 

"The world deserves to learn about Kataragama as its traditional

custodians understand it," says Sandrasagra. "Only when the rest of the

world raves about Kataragama will the average Sri Lankan once again

respect our cultural heritage the way older generations once did."

 

 

Note: Visit www.kataragama.org regularly or to Murugan Bhakti

for latest details on these and other forthcoming documentaries about

Kataragama.

 

Kataragama.org home page

 

More about Kataragama Devotees Trust activities.