I could potentially study what I wanted, where I wanted, and have nine months to develop my interests. I applied to Fulbright because it had the fewest strings attached. What fellowships did you apply to and why? I ended up using the lack of resources as evidence for going to Colombo to gain access to people within the film industry and scholarship to do interviews.

Unfortunately, unlike Indian cinema (this includes regional cinema within the country), Pakistani, Nepali, Bangladeshi, and Sri Lankan cinema has very little scholarship and documentation. I lived in DC while writing the application, so I utilized the Library of Congress to better understand the industry before using it as a sociological framework. I wanted to present my research as part of a larger picture – that South Asian cinema is much more than popular Bollywood movies. I think the hardest part was the background research. Crafting an argument in three pages highlighting why my short-term interests are worth funding gave me the opportunity to evaluate my strengths and weaknesses and how those can work in my favor. I knew that Sri Lankan cinema was not going to be my life’s work. Like many people, I wrote the application to give me a reason to immerse myself in various communities through a short-term research project. It is hard to really understand what the Fulbright experience could be like when you’re writing the application. The application process was arduous because it seemed so vague. Sheela at Adam’s bridge, the islands between Sri Lanka and India What was your experience with the application process? What was most difficult? What was most rewarding? In May 2014, she talked with the Fellowships Office and reflected on her experience with the application process and her time in Sri Lanka. After arriving in Sri Lanka and doing initial research of Sinhala and Tamil films, she found a common theme of gender-based violence (GBV) and decided to “quantify GBV in Sinhala film and understanding the root of this behavior in Sinhalese Sri Lankan culture.” Sheela has been working since November 2013 for a social enterprise firm in India that focuses on underprivileged communities. She applied to be a Fulbright Scholar in Sri Lanka and was awarded a full scholarship from 2012-2013. Sheela Lal graduated from MU in 2012 with a Bachelor’s degree in Statistics and International Studies.

Sinhala movies full 2012