Little Jaffna premieres at Venice Film Festival 2024

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 Lawrence Valin  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.

Little Jaffna tells the story Michael, an undercover police officer, played by Valin himself, and his perilous infiltration mission into a Tamil gang (Killiz Gang), operating in La Chapelle.

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.

Attending the premiere was the cast and crew, made up of local French Tamil actors. Also gracing the occasion, was the well known South Indian actress Radikaa Sarathkumar, who grew up in Colombo, and plays a role in the film.

“I am pleased to share that the French film I have starred in titled “Little Jaffna” has been aired as the closing film during Critics’ Week at the Venice Film Festival. I would like to elaborate on various wonderful aspects of this film soon,” Radikaa wrote on X.

After closing Venice’s Critics Week, the film now heads to Toronto International Film Festival.