Peace and Popcorn

A little more than a decade after the end of 30 years of destructive internal conflict, Sri Lanka is still yearning for lasting peace. The conflict between ethnic and religious divides in Sri Lanka has escalated in recent years, and the effects have manifested in various ways ranging from communal riots to terrorist attacks.

In this context, a large youth community in Sri Lanka remains beyond the reach of conventional peace-building and reconciliation efforts. There is considerable resistance on the part of youth communities to engage with conventional peace-building activities. Youth communities have the potential to act as drivers of peace within their community and peer groups. Four Sri Lanka fellows from the European Union-funded ALLY project are using their shared love of film to help realize this potential in their communities.

Neranjan Maddumage, Oshan Gunathilake, Rashima De Silva, and Sanka Galagoda are using short films, documentaries, and feature films to promote inter-ethnic and religious understanding and build alternative narratives as a part of their Social Action Plan “Peace and Popcorn”.

While the internet is not yet ubiquitous in Sri Lanka, the fellows are targeting youth from Colombo, Kandy, and Galle, districts where the internet usage rate is higher and social media users and content creators are more concentrated compared to other districts. According to Sri Lanka’s Department of Census and Statistics, the percentage distribution of internet using households was 44.9% in Colombo, 27.1% in Kandy, and 24.8% in Galle in 2018.

In December 2021, the fellows held internal dialogues to review selected movies and documentaries on themes related to peacebuilding. The selected films include the award-winning Indian short movies The Little Terrorist, Jihad Hai, Turning Point, and Overcomer, all of which are available publicly.

The SAP’s second phase educated 9 participants (6 female) on digital storytelling and encouraged them to create their own digital stories on selected themes related to peacebuilding and PVE to be circulated through select digital platforms. Developing on this foundation, the fellows hope to train social media content creators to respect differences in ethnic, religious, and cultural identities in society during the second phase of Social Action Plan implementation, which is scheduled to take place during the final five months of the ALLY project. As a result, they anticipate the transformation of negative social narratives within ethnic and religious contexts through the creation of alternative narratives.

“As a part of our humble effort, we want to see social media users use the platform more consciously and effectively, especially as a medium to channel peace processes. We are hoping that our participants of the training could spearhead the effort.” – Neranjan Maddumage.

Through their work, the fellows hope to train social media content creators to respect differences in ethnic, religious, and cultural identities in society. As a result, they anticipate the transformation of negative social narratives within ethnic and religious contexts through the creation of alternative narratives.

“As a part of our humble effort, we want to see social media users use the platform more consciously and effectively, especially as a medium to channel peace processes. We are hoping that our participants of the training could spearhead the effort.” – Neranjan Maddumage.