While the world looked away as many as 70 thousand civilians lost their lives, most at the hands of government shelling. This is the story of the final bloody weeks of the Sri Lankan civil war.
Published February 11, 2013
This was supposed to be a war conducted in secret. The Government excluded the international press, forced the UN to leave the war zone and ruthlessly silenced the Sri Lankan media – dozens of media workers were killed, exiled or disappeared. While the world looked away in the first few months of 2009, an estimated 40,000 to 70,000 civilians were massacred – mostly by Sri Lankan government shelling, though the Tamil Tigers also stand accused of war crimes.
The film starts in September 2008. An air of deep foreboding hung over Kilinochchi, the de facto capital of the Tamil homelands of Northern Sri Lanka. The armed forces of the Sinhalese government of Sri Lanka were on the move, and the secessionist army of the Tamil Tigers was in retreat. After a 26-year revolt, the scene was set for the awful endgame.
The trailer above contains images of graphic violence.
Recently
See the global response to preliminary footage from "No Fire Zone," Callum Macrae's upcoming documentary about Sri Lankan war crimes, on Storify.
In September 2008, as Sri Lankan government forces pushed the fighters of the Tamil Tigers further and further back into the Tamil homelands of the north, the government ordered the UN to evacuate.
Gateways
Grantee
Director Callum Macrae has been making films for 20 years in the UK and around the world, including Iraq, Japan (in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake), Haiti and several in Africa – covering...
Grantee
Producer Zoe Sale is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. For the last 12 years she has worked in current affairs and factual programming making programmes for the BBC, ITV, ITN, C4, C5 and...
