Academic and filmmaker Udan Fernando will be premiering his latest documentary film “Not So Greener Pastures” at the British Film Institute in London on October 6th 2023. Motivated to create documentaries which highlight social issues, Not So Greener Pastures will be Udan’s 10th documentary. His previous releases include Dwandha: A Tale of Two Rebels, A Corvid Honeymoon, A Virgin Vote, Evoking, Gastro Quarantino, The Man-Eating Cobra in Punani : A Rediscovery of Quarantine Jungles in Modern Lanka, A Special Announcement, Going Home and Being Kanthi.

This latest film stemmed from a recent spell of work with the National University of Timor Leste, on behalf of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) that took place from 9-16 July 2023 and coincided with a conference organised by the Timor Leste Study Association during that same month. Explaining the context and concept of the film Udan says “Sri Lanka’s civil war from 1983-2009, pushed thousands of citizens from both sides of the ethnic divide to migrate to other countries as refugees, asylum seekers or economic migrants. As a result, 10% of the population of Sri Lanka now lives abroad as diaspora.

The popular diasporic destinations are Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, United States, Germany, France, Norway, Switzerland that are commonly known as ‘greener pastures’, given the developed nature of these countries, the economic prosperity and stability as well as the opportunities that are available for migrants to start a fresh chapter of their lives. Similarly, the conflict in East Timor, since the seventies, led many Timorese people to leave the country to destinations such as Australia, Mozambique, Indonesia, United Kingdom, and United States.

The documentary captures the dynamics of the overlapping contexts of these two countries that were struggling to come out of a long period of conflict and turmoil while juxtaposing the trajectories of a group of people from one conflict- laden country finding another conflict-laden country as a haven, an oasis or a greener pasture. The documentary follows the early Lankan migrants to Timor Leste from 2001 when the latter was reaching a certain degree of stability and peace. Initial research by Udan, has identified a nexus of Lankans migrating to Timor Leste, both legally and otherwise, for various purposes, ranging from using Timor as a transit point of arms and human smuggling by the rebel group in Sri Lanka to economic opportunities such as employment and business.

The documentary will feature four Sri Lankans originating from the Northern (Manipay), Southern (Hambantota), North Western (Madahapola, Kurunegala) and Western (Gampaha) provinces of the country who have ended up in TL since 2001 with different motives and have settled in Timor since then. Three of them are married to Timorese women and have assimilated and integrated well with the local culture, business and even politics. The documentary brings the detailed trajectories of selected Lankan migrants in Timor Leste and also captures how Lankan perceive, Timor Leste, their domiciled land, particularly the political and conflict dimensions that are somewhat akin to their experience in Sri Lanka.

Here, a particular emphasis will be given to the areas of conflict transformation, reconciliation, and economic recovery. The film also features three experts, a Canadian historian, a Timorese military leader who oversaw intelligence and whose work included following the migrants with security threats and a Sri Lankan TL-Solidarity campaigner to give a broader perspective and context to the stories narrated by the four Sri Lankans domiciled in TL. Udan Fernando obtained his PhD from the University of Amsterdam, in International Development Cooperation.

Throughout his career, from Head of the Development Commission of the National Christian Council of Sri Lanka (1989-1995), Executive Director of Paltra (Gte) Ltd (1996-2001), Guest Researcher at University of Amsterdam (2002- 2007), Senior Consultant of Context International, Netherlands (2008- 2012) and Executive Director of the Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA) a Sri Lankan think-tank (2012-2020) Udan has focused on development co-operation and aid policy in Sri Lanka, Europe, East & West Africa and Southeast Asia. Udan received a Diploma in Cinematography from OCIC, Colombo in 1985 and followed a Short Course on Anthropological Film Making at the University of Amsterdam in 2007.

Udan is currently based in Singapore, working as a Consultant with the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), a US-based academic agency with a world-wide membership. Udan is working with the project “Developing the Humanities and Social Sciences and Supporting Under-Represented Scholars of Asia”, in Cambodia, Thailand, India, Pakistan and East Timor. After the conclusion of the film there will be a panel discussion with three panellists. Including Dr Thiruni Kelegama, Lecturer in South Asian Studies, University of Oxford, Prof Mick Moore a political economist and professorial Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex and Fidelis Leite Magalhaes, East Timorean political economist, public policy specialist and politician.