| Akash Sunethkumara | |
| Birth Name: | Akash Sunethkumara |
| Birth Date: | 1994 1, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Occupation: | Filmmaker |
| Years Active: | 2015-present |
| Website: | https://www.highschooljunkies.com |
Akash Sunethkumara (Akash Sk) is a Sri Lankan filmmaker, writer and actor.[1]
Akash Sunethkumara was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He is an alumnus of St. Nicholas' International College Negombo and Staffordshire University.[2]
In 2016, Sunethkumara formed a filmmaking collective with a group of friends titled High School Junkies. Together, he created his first publicly released short film EIDETIC which was his Masters thesis project.[3] [4] A low-budgeted short of $300, EIDETIC screened at various film festivals including San Diego Comic-Con's Independent Film Festival.[5] [6] In 2018, he directed a short horror titled The Summoning.[7] [8] Later in 2019, he released a mini-follow up to The Summoning titled The Friend which was also published on Crypt TV.[9] Sunethkumara directed The Knight Out in 2020, a project marketed as an "action musical" which merged the concepts of a music video with martial arts action.[10] [11]
In 2022, Sunethkumara helmed Temporal, a time-travel sci-fi short film about a physicist who races against time to prevent the death of his girlfriend.[12] The film required eight months of work to complete[13] and was experimental to determine how well they could "localize a western sci-fi concept".[14] It was the first project that Sunethkumara and the team had done in collaboration with an external party[15] and also the first project where they collaborated with veteran Sri Lankan actor Lakshman Mendis.[16] Sumner Forbes of Film Threat stated "I was mightily impressed by the production value that Sunethkumara brings to bear in this 30-minute film. The director never loses sight of the film’s strengths, which are the entertaining temporal contradictions that come from leaping back into the recent past, recalling Shane Carruth’s Primer."[17] Sunethkumara collaborated in 2023 with Sri Lankan actress Yureni Noshika on Teddy, a short film that tackled the "constant realities for so many in relationships and marriages not just in Sri Lanka but across the globe".[18]
Sunethkumara started a podcast during the COVID-19 pandemic called Junkyard Theory where he hosts filmmakers from Hollywood on a livestream.[19] The first education platform of its kind in Sri Lanka, it also offers short modular film courses.[20] [21] Sunethkumara has hosted prominent names in the industry such as Louis Leterrier, Mike Knobloch, John Toll, Paul Hirsch, Donald Sylvester, Richard Norton, Joel Crawford and Simon Barry.[22] [23]
In 2024, Sunethkumara started a new studio with his fiancée, titled Maktüb Studios. The new venture aims to create feature films, moving away from the shorts he created with High School Junkies.[24]
| Year | Title | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | EIDETIC | First Sri Lankan short film accepted in San Diego Comic-Con's Independent Film Festival | |
| 2018 | The Summoning | ||
| 2019 | The Friend | Published on Crypt TV | |
| 2020 | The Knight Out | ||
| 2022 | Temporal | ||
| 2023 | Teddy | ||
| 2024 | Hooves | Upcoming and final short film |