UK Premiere: Little Jaffna

+ Q&A with Director of Photography Maxence Lemonnier

French-Tamil director Lawrence Valin’s feature debut is a fast-paced and dynamic socio-political crime drama. Set in the boisterous La Chapelle district in Paris, fondly known as Little Jaffna, the film follows Michael, a rookie cop (played by Valin himself) who is assigned to infiltrate a violent Tamil gang, with links to separatist rebels in Sri Lanka. But as he works his way deeper into the heart of the organisation, his loyalties are tested as he is forced to confront the cultural complexities of his dual identities.

Director Lawrence Valin

With Lawrence Valin, Puviraj Raveendran, Vela Ramamoorthy, Radikaa Sarathkumar

France 2024. 100min

Digital

Tamil with English subtitles

What started off as a short film about the Tamil community in France, has blossomed into a full length feature film premiering at the highly acclaimed 81st Venice Film Festival.

French Tamil actor and director @lawrencevalin’s directorial debut “Little Jaffna”, is set in La Chappelle in central Paris. The area is known to residents as Little Jaffna, named after the capital city in the north of Sri Lanka. The densely populated Tamil district is paved with restaurants and shops, and once also known for the prevalence of Tamil gangs.

The film explores the Tamil diaspora experience in Paris, during the backdrop of Sri Lanka’s civil war and provides glimpses into behind the scenes of the covert financing of the Tigers’ resistance, against governmental forces which lasted three decades.