Republic of Amnesia + Q&A

Name: Republic of Amnesia + Q&A
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2026-08-20
Duration: 1 h 18 min

<div style="font-size: 12pt; direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Kannan Arunasalem. </b></div><div style="font-size: 12pt; direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br></i></div><div style="font-size: 12pt; direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Republic of Amnesia </i>follows the rise and fall of Sri Lanka’s Aragalaya—the youth-led protest movement that forced authoritarian president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country in 2022.</div><div style="font-size: 12pt; direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></div><div style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At its heart are young activists like Melani, Buwanaka and Jeana, who lead marches, face arrest, and fight for a more inclusive future.  As they challenge a corrupt political dynasty and a system rigged to resist change, their struggle raises a deeper question: can fragile hope survive in a country built on forgetting? A political coming-of-age story, not only for the young people at its centre, but also for a country grappling with memory, dissent and the cost of forgetting.  The spirit of creative defiance that shaped the Aragalaya has since rippled across parts of Asia, giving the film renewed resonance through these wider parallels.</div><div style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></div><div style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span data-olk-copy-source="MessageBody" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This film contains spoken English, Tamil and Sinhala with English Subtitles. </span></div><div style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></div><div style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Screening as part of our <a href="https://www.glasgowfilm.org/south-asian-heritage-month">South Asian Heritage Month season</a>. </div>DocumentaryPT1H18MN/C 15+2026-08-20

Kannan Arunasalam

Republic of Amnesia + Q&A"Republic of Amnesia + Q&A"

Showtimes

August 20, 8:20 pm