Lotus-Eyed Girl
TITLE
Lotus-Eyed Girl
DIRECTOR
Rajee Samarasinghe
COUNTRY
USA
YEAR
2022
DURATION
6′
GENRE
Video Art
Overview

Lotus-Eyed Girl
Loosely based on the erotic poem “Caurapañcāśikā” by Bilhana, which was written in prison upon discovery of the poet’s clandestine affair with Princess Yaminipurnatilaka. The verses were written while awaiting judgment, not knowing if he was to be executed or exiled—his fate is unknown.

DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHY - Rajee Samarasinghe
Rajee Samarasinghe (Sri Lanka / USA) is a filmmaker from Sri Lanka currently based in the United States. His work tackles contemporary sociopolitical conditions in Sri Lanka through the scope of his own identity and the deconstruction of ethnographic practices. Samarasinghe received his BFA from UCSD and his MFA from CalArts. He is currently working on his debut feature, Your Touch Makes Others Invisible, inspired by his childhood experiences during the Sri Lankan civil war. This project received a Sundance Documentary Fund grant in 2019 and was invited to Berlinale Talents’ Doc Station as well as True/False Film Festival’s inaugural PRISM program in 2020. He was also named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film in 2020. His films have been exhibited at venues internationally including at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Film Society of Lincoln Center, MoMA, FIDMarseille, Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen, Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival, and Media City Film Festival. He received the Tíos Award for Best International Film at the Ann Arbor Film Festival and the Film House Award for visionary filmmaking at the Athens International Film + Video Festival. He programmed for both the REDCAT and the Slamdance Film Festival in 2020.
Credits
- DirectorRajee Samarasinghe
- ScreenplayRajee Samarasinghe
- CinematographyRajee Samarasinghe
- EditingRajee Samarasinghe
- Cast
- Producer/s Rajee Samarasinghe
- Production Company
-
Distributor/s
Specifications
- Project TitleLotus-Eyed Girl
- Project TypeVideo Art
- Completion Date January 1, 2022
-
Country of origin
USA -
Country of filming
USA -
Language
- First-time Filmmaker No
- Student Project No

Rajee Samarasinghe
Rajee Samarasinghe (Sri Lanka / USA) is a filmmaker from Sri Lanka currently based in the United States. His work tackles contemporary sociopolitical conditions in Sri Lanka through the scope of his own identity and the deconstruction of ethnographic practices. Samarasinghe received his BFA from UCSD and his MFA from CalArts. He is currently working on his debut feature, Your Touch Makes Others Invisible, inspired by his childhood experiences during the Sri Lankan civil war. This project received a Sundance Documentary Fund grant in 2019 and was invited to Berlinale Talents’ Doc Station as well as True/False Film Festival’s inaugural PRISM program in 2020. He was also named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film in 2020. His films have been exhibited at venues internationally including at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Film Society of Lincoln Center, MoMA, FIDMarseille, Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen, Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival, and Media City Film Festival. He received the Tíos Award for Best International Film at the Ann Arbor Film Festival and the Film House Award for visionary filmmaking at the Athens International Film + Video Festival. He programmed for both the REDCAT and the Slamdance Film Festival in 2020.