White Van Stories

Feature Documentary / Color / 16:9 / HD / Tamil, Sinhala - Subtitled in English / Stereo / 60 minutes
Synopsis

A documentary feature on enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka following seven characters from the families of the disappeared.The documentary spans across a gamut of provinces and ethnicities (Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities) in its coverage of the tragic unexplained disappearances of civilians in post-war Sri Lanka. It shines a light on the resilience and courage that many have adopted to find the disappeared as part of their continued fight for justice.

The film was largely shot undercover given the situation of military occupation in the Tamil areas and press censorship in Lanka. The key characters are followed amongst the hundreds of families of the disappeared who continue to be the lone voice against the totalitarian regime and their genocidal civil wars against their own citizens. The camera encounters the military check posts on every entry into the villages where the characters inhabit. The heartrending testimonials of the characters and their relentless search of their beloved ones for years without losing hope form the narrative arc. The characters' resilience and their belief systems are the main concern as perspective and the politics reveal through these expressions. The history puts itself in the context with the oral - visual narratives of the experiences of violence by characters through the ethnic strife in the island for almost three decades.

Broadcast in Channel 4