Rajee Samarasinghe is a filmmaker born and raised amidst the decades-long civil war in Sri Lanka. He later left for the United States where he is now based. His practice was born out of a desire to understand the circumstances around his childhood and often navigates the terrain of memory, migration, and impermanence. He was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film in 2020 and he had a solo show at the MoMA (Modern Mondays) in 2021.
Samarasinghe’s films have been exhibited at venues internationally including the Tiger Short Competition at IFFR, New Directors/New Films by MoMA & Film at Lincoln Center, MoMA’s Doc Fortnight, BFI London, FIDMarseille, Festival du nouveau cinéma, Oberhausen, and Ann Arbor Film Festival where he received the Tíos Award for Best International Film.
At MacDowell, Samarasinghe worked on the edit of Your Touch Makes Others Invisible. For the project, he received support from the Sundance Institute's Documentary Film Program, Berlinale Talents' Doc Station, Field of Vision, and True/False Film Festival’s PRISM program. He also developed the screenplay for his next feature film while in residency.
