"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door," Bilbo warned. This weekend, it's worth the peril - if only for tonight’s LOTR quiz.
Saturday is packed. Watch Dharmasiri Bandaranayke’s Hansa Vilak, with English subtitles, at the National Film Corporation. Regi Siriwardena remarked this groundbreaking film, excavating adultery and divorce, went “further than any Sinhala film before in taking us into the world of inner psychological experience.” See Feminist Futures, at the National Museum, set subcontinental artists loose on the patriarchy. Listen to chamber music at the Russian Centre or rock and roll at Alwis Place. For those more vulture than culture - a Bollinger bolshie at La Maison. For families, the Bawa Trust treasure hunt takes the babas off your hands.
Sunday is more mellow. Dharmasena Pathiraja’s Bambaru Avith, translated the Wasps are Here, takes us to a rural Kalpitiya raided by capitalist robber barons. Colombo Poets unmask their insecurities at an open mic that evening.
Remember to waltz by the Vajira Chitrasena retrospective at the Wendt or the Keyt Foundation's Young Contemporaries show at Barefoot - both on all weekend.
During the week, Shaanea Mendis’ exhibition still breathes at Saskia’s. Wednesday has a more prosaic offering: Verité Research’s seminar on how we can use compliance as competitive leverage in our exports. Finally, next Saturday, Asvajit and the Jambutek jing-bang kick-off the season at Dot’s Hiriketiya.
What to read
This week’s events lean cultural, but economics almost monopolizes the writing. But before we get there, Luc Buljens, through photos and words, reminds us past and present live side by side in Colombo. Chethana Mudunna and others find Sri Lankan youth report much higher levels of psychological distress than usual. Margaret Price explores how, during the civil war, the government navigated the politics of international law.
Turning towards the economics, Harindra Dassanayke and Rajni Gamage’s wide-ranging analysis trace how promises of system change morphed into ‘structural compliance’ with the liberal economic consensus.
For an even more economics driven take, see this paper by the IMF’s just departed Sri Lanka mission chief. It's dense and technical. But even glancing through the charts illuminates causes of the crisis, how it was tamed and the risks that remain. For what needs to be done, Verité Research’s budget hub lets you vote on their budget wish list.
Fish - more precisely cold storage facilities - should be on yours. Prokash Deb et al deep-dive into the island’s fish-market, showing how poor cold chains lead to higher prices. They also report a marked decline in the sea catch over the last few years.
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