Film screening and interview with director

Sri Lanka’s Constitution accords a foremost place to Buddhism, the religion of a greater number of the majority Sinhala population, while providing for right to freedom of religion or belief to the country’s minorities. This foremost status to Buddhism places an onus on the state to foster and protect Buddhism conferring a default position of power and political advantage to the majority Sinhala population. Consequently, the Sinhala Buddhist community and their political  representatives derive a sense of supremacy and entitlement from this constitutional provision.

This documentary draw on interviews with victims of religiously motivated violence, religious representatives, human rights activists and academics. It shows how constitutionally-derived Sinhala Buddhist supremacy has been weaponized  politically, socially and culturally. The marginalization of religious minorities has become particularly pronounced in Sri Lanka’s post-war setting (after the 2009 defeat of the Tamil militancy).