Flying with one wing (Tani Tatuwen Piyabanna)
Directed by Asoka Handagama
With Anoma Janadari, Gayani Sudharshani, Mahendra Perera
Sri Lanka 2002, 81 mins

Without doubt the most revolutionary South Asian film of the year. Asoka Handagama presents a graphically disturbing image of contemporary Sri Lanka where women are the under class, suffering under the weight of tradition and male desire. In the midst of this conformity is an edgy story of transexuality. Manju is a boyish car mechanic who holds his own in the male world of the garage. After work he returns home to his young wife Kusum. They are happy together, however Manju conceals a secret identity from his wife: he was born a woman. One day after an accident Manju's secret is exposed to a doctor who becomes obsessed with him. Unable to have him, the doctor breaks Manju's secret to his chauvinist boss setting in train a series of events which force Manju to face up to a wife who has been misled and a community marked by homophobia and sexism.

Cary Rajinder Sawhney

Regus London Film Festival Screening

Wed 20 Nov 16.15 - National Film Theatre screen 1
Thu 21 Nov 18.30 - National Film Theatre screen 1

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