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Organizers of the Jaffna International Cinema Festival had cancelled a scheduled screening of the documentary film “Demons in Paradise”, which had debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016.The film has been screened many times in Sri Lanka since – but always in the island’s south. On October 5, a screening was scheduled at the Majestic Cineplex in the heart of Jaffna town, marking the first time it would be publicly screened for a predominantly Tamil speaking audience in the formerly embattled Northern Province. Director of the film, Jude Ratnam was quoted to have said that organizers only told him that they had been compelled to pull the film from the festival line up due to
“pressure from the community” but they declined to name specific individuals or groups who had
raised objections. “Initially they did not inform me. I noticed that the film was no longer in the programme put up online,” he had been quoted as saying. Festival organizers were quoted as saying unofficially that they were worried that going ahead with the screening of Demons in Paradise might put the whole festival at risk, since the north was still an “emotive place.” Festival Organizer Anoma Rajakaruna didn’t deny nor explain the reasons for the removal, but instead, said the organizers chose
to keep the film slot empty, hoping to use it to hold a forum and public discussion on freedom of expression instead.