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MACHAN

By Uberto PASOLINI

BETA CINEMA - as SALES All rights, World

Comedy - Completed 2008

Living on the margins of society, under impossible pressures, a group of desperate slum dwellers find an invitation to a handball tournament in Bavaria. The one way ticket to the West could to be the answer to their prayers and a solution to all their problems.

- Year of production
- 2008
- Genres
- Comedy, Drama
- Countries
- SRI LANKA
- Languages
- SINHALE
- Duration
- 109 mn
- Director(s)
- Uberto PASOLINI
- Writer(s)
- Ruwanthie DE CHICKERA, Uberto PASOLINI
- Cast
- Dharmapriya DIAS, Dharshan DHARMARAJ, Gihan De CHICKERA, Mahendra PERERA
- Producer(s)
- Conchita AIROLDI, Prasanna VITHANAGE, Uberto PASOLINI
- Synopsis
- Colombo, Sri Lanka. Manoj has a job in a hotel, although his wages barely keep a roof over his extended family’s head. His best friend Stanley, deep in debt to a money lender scrapes together his living by selling fruit on the street.
  The two want to go to Europe in order to give their families a better life; so they use money they cannot afford to apply for visas at the German Embassy. Rejected once again they sit crestfallen on the beach, trying to understand why obtaining a visa is so difficult. Whilst looking through a brochure they had taken from the Embassy, they discover an advertisement for an international handball tournament in Germany.
  Without having any idea what “handball” is, but at this point willing to try anything to escape Colombo, Stanley and Manoj decide to put together Sri Lanka’s first and only team. But what the fuck is handball?
  “…aha, a sport! But is there really another sport outside of Cricket? So, what’s the plan?
  That means we need a team…no prob…everybody wants to get the hell outta here!...
  We gotta have a name, right?...I guess we’re the only team…so what about “The National Handball Team of Sri Lanka”!
  We need a team photo?...Anybody got a camera?...Hold on…
  Don’t forget the team uniforms?!...Who’s got the best connections at the clothing market?
  And what about the rules and practicing?...Let’s drop it! We’re never even gonna see a handball court…
  So, are we all set? Alright…let’s send it all out and hope for the best…
  The team rejoice as their visa applications are finally accepted. After packing and saying goodbye to their loved ones, they jump on the plane - their plan to disappear as soon as they land at the forefront of their minds.
  But upon arrival, the German welcoming committee are excitedly unfurling a banner “Welcome Sri Lanka National Handball Team”. They are immediately carted off to their hotel and their imminent escape plans put on hold.
  “On September 13th, 2004, after losing their first three games in an international tournament, all 23 members of the Sri Lanka National Handball Team disappeared from the town of Wittislingen, Bavaria. For violating German immigration laws, warrants were issued for their arrest – but to this day, they have never been found.
  The president of the Sri Lanka Olympic Committee made the declaration: “We don’t even have a handball team”…”