Mouna Kaandam

Dealing with trauma in the primeval forests of Sri Lanka: a political parable about war and remembrance with superb, lyrical cinematography. The civil war on Sri Lanka left terrible marks on two villages: not only is there a "death strip" between the two, but there has also been no child born on either side of the barbed wire for some time. Both villages receive messages from their gods about how to deal with the situation: they should send one of their inhabitants into the Forest of the Dead – but only one will return. The Singhalese man Asoka and the Tamil woman Ahalya are chosen to heal their villages – and their ordeal will confront them with the scars the war left on their souls. (Filmfest Hamburg)