From last Sunday (December 13, 2015), we started showing a movie at Horizon Lanka Foundation sharp at 7.00 pm. This will continue every Sunday evening. The movie we select can be enjoyed by all age levels from kids to older people. Movie will be screened even if the number of audience is just one. We show good movies in any language which are subtitled in English for the audience to learn some English too while having fun. Movies are shown free of charge purely on educational (or rather edutainment) purposes. We have a multimedia projector and a screen along with a decent sound system which give the audience a better movie experience.
It was unanimously agreed to go ahead with the movie schedule even if there is a wedding, a funeral or a religious, etc. event in the village. If these sporadic events are taken for granted, we will hardy have a chance to screen a movie in a village where there is a 22,000-strong population. Visit http://mahawilachchiya.ds.gov.lk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=45&Itemid=57&lang=en for more statistics about Mahawilachchiya. We will cancel the movies only if there is a national catastrophe. (Luckily there hasn’t been any such incident since the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami that devastated the coastal belt of Sri Lanka and a few of our neighboring countries.)
Everybody attended the screening of the movie George of the Jungle enjoyed it a lot as it was a Tarzan-like movie full of fun and adventure. Showing English subtitled movies has been very effective in students getting very good grades at the national level English examinations in the past. Reading English subtitles is a catalyst for the students to venture into reading English language books, etc. too.
I would like to appreciate the good work you’re doing. It’s a very good idea to give them this experience in the village itself. Most other countries also do this type of work to improve the living status and knowledge of the people in rural areas. Using English subtitled movies will not only give them entertainment but will also tend to improve their knowledge of the English language. I wish that your work would be a great success.