Akash Sunethkumara

Akash Sunethkumara (Akash Sk) is a Sri Lankan filmmaker, writer and actor.[1] He is known for the short films that he created with his production team called the High School Junkies.

Akash Sunethkumara
Born
Akash Sunethkumara

(1994-01-19) 19 January 1994
Colombo, Sri Lanka
OccupationFilmmaker
Years active2015-present
Websitehttps://www.highschooljunkies.com

Early life

Akash Sunethkumara was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He is an alumnus of St. Nicholas' International College Negombo and Staffordshire University.[2][3]

Career

In 2016, Sunethkumara created his first publicly released short film EIDETIC which was his Masters thesis project.[4][5] A low-budgeted short of $300, EIDETIC screened at various film festivals including San Diego Comic-Con's Independent Film Festival.[6][7]

In 2018, he directed a short horror titled The Summoning.[8][9]

In 2019, he released a mini-follow up to The Summoning titled The Friend which was also published on Crypt TV.[10]

In 2020, Sunethkumara directed The Knight Out, a project marketed as an "action musical" which merged the concepts of a music video with martial arts action.[11][12]

In 2022, Sunethkumara helmed Temporal, a time-travel sci-fi short film about a physicist who races against time to prevent the death of his girlfriend.[13] The film required eight months of work to complete[14] and was experimental to determine how well they could "localize a western sci-fi concept".[15] It was the first project that Sunethkumara and the team had done in collaboration with an external party[16] and also the first project where they collaborated with veteran Sri Lankan actor Lakshman Mendis.[17] Sumner Forbes of Film Threat stated "I was mightily impressed by the production value that Sunethkumara brings to bear in this 30-minute film. The director never loses sight of the film’s strengths, which are the entertaining temporal contradictions that come from leaping back into the recent past, recalling Shane Carruth’s Primer."[18]

Additionally, Sunethkumara started a webinar series during the COVID-19 pandemic called Junkyard Theory where he hosts filmmakers from Hollywood on a livestream.[19] The first education platform of its kind in Sri Lanka, it also offers short modular film courses.[20][21] Sunethkumara has hosted prominent names in the industry such as Louis Leterrier, Mike Knobloch, John Toll, Paul Hirsch, Donald Sylvester, Richard Norton, Joel Crawford and Simon Barry.[3][22]

Filmography
Year Title Notes
2016 EIDETIC First Sri Lankan short film accepted in San Diego Comic-Con's Independent Film Festival
2018 The Summoning
2019 The Friend Published on Crypt TV
2020 The Knight Out
2022 Temporal
2023 Teddy

References
  1. "Akash Sk". High School Junkies. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
  2. "This time it's horror: High School Junkies strike again". The Sunday Times Sri Lanka. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
  3. "Meet the movie wizards". Print Edition - The Sunday Times, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 2021-07-17.
  4. Degree, Raindance Postgraduate (2017-06-01). ""Eiditic" to Screen at San Diego Comic Con". Raindance. Retrieved 2019-07-26.
  5. "Eidetic". calendar.raindancefestival.org. Archived from the original on 2019-07-12. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
  6. ""EIDETIC" drags the world attention to Sri Lanka". 2017-09-17. Retrieved 2021-04-11 – via PressReader.
  7. "Sri Lanka's Top Short Films of 2016". YAMU. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
  8. Charles, Baptiste (2019-07-11). "Raindance MA Alumni Akash Sk shoots horror short "The Summoning"". Raindance. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
  9. "The Summoning – a testament to clever filmmaking". The Morning - Sri Lanka News. 2018-11-04. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
  10. "The High School Junkies Have A Short Film Out". Decibel. 2019-05-24. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
  11. Wijesinghe, Dimithri. "The Knight Out | ද නයිට් අවුට් | an action musical by Akash Sunethkumara". The Morning.
  12. Clarke, Lucy (2020-09-07). "The Knight Out Short Film Review". UK Film Review. Retrieved 2021-04-11.
  13. Wijesinghe, Dimithri (2022-03-08). "Temporal: Proof that Sri Lankan cinema can do better". Brunch. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
  14. "Shooting a paradox on time". Print Edition - The Sunday Times, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
  15. "Temporal Disruption". CeylonToday. Retrieved 2022-04-13.
  16. "High School Junkies takes on Sci-Fi". The Morning - Sri Lanka News. 2021-10-12. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
  17. ""WE THINK WE HAVE TIME" A PHYSICIST RISKS EVERYTHING TO RIGHT A WRONG IN SCI-FI SHORT'TEMPORAL' - Life | Daily Mirror". www.dailymirror.lk. Retrieved 2022-03-29.
  18. "Temporal | Film Threat". 2022-04-19. Retrieved 2022-04-23.
  19. "How One Sri Lankan Filmmaker Got Tips from Hollywood Masters". No Film School. 2021-04-09. Retrieved 2021-04-11.
  20. "The Art Of Filmmaking: How Junkyard Theory is uncovering the best tricks and tips of filmmaking - Life Online". www.life.lk. Retrieved 2021-09-17.
  21. "What is the Junkyard Theory?". The Morning - Sri Lanka News. 2021-01-10. Retrieved 2021-04-11.
  22. "A year of Junkyard Theory: Akash Sunethkumara". The Morning - Sri Lanka News. 2021-06-06. Retrieved 2021-07-17.
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