— Pamela Roth
With a crew of 13 people, Rama Jabri went to work, turning her dream of producing a movie into a reality.
For six days in April, the crew shot the entire guerilla-style film, An Imperfection using various locations in Oak Bay, downtown Victoria, Dallas Road and Mystic Vale – a forested ravine near the University of Victoria.
Holding down full-time jobs in other fields, the crew dedicated their evenings and weekends towards making the film. After a year of hard work, An Imperfection is now ready to be screened in Victoria. All of it was done with no budget.
“A lot of the cast and crew worked for free out of the passion for this project. We had enough money for food and transportation, and it was enough to get us together for more than six days,” said Jabri, noting everyone involved has a background in film.
“This was a learning experience for us. We didn’t want to reach out to anybody. We wanted to make this ourself and see what transpires afterwards.”
An Imperfection was created by Victoria-based director, Rasanga Weerasinghe. Originally from Sri Lanka, Weerasinghe filmed his first documentary, Angram: The Art of War in 2011, and made a few other short films before migrating to Canada.
The story revolves around three lovers and the complexities of their lives. Kamara, already in a relationship with Becky, yearns to explore her new life. She goes on a date and instantly connects with Vincent, a conservative hot-tempered single man. Life is too good to be true for the couple until they are confronted by gang members and Kamara’s hidden past is revealed. As Becky is tormented by the changes within her partner, Vincent and Kamara endure a traumatic event that will change their lives forever.
Weerasinghe’s plan was to originally create a documentary since the story actually happened to one of his friends. His friend, however, declined to participate due to the social stigma on what the idea presents.
“I thought this is a story that needs to be told,” said Weerasinghe, who wrote the final screen play in about six months. All post production and music production was completed in Sri Lanka, where the movie was shown about two weeks ago.
“It was very well received there so we are really excited to screen it in Victoria.”
An Imperfection will be screened at the Victoria Event Centre on Sept. 29 at 6:30 p.m. As the local screening draws near, Jabri is feeling both excited and nervous.
“It’s a very deep movie and we’re hoping that viewers connect with it and they understand the meaning of the story,” she said. “My personal hope for this project is that people see themselves in all of the characters, or at least open their minds and engage.”