Congratulations to Kit Mead, previous Sura Medura artist in residence, on the presentation of his film The Other Kwai at the Merchant City Festival 2013, Glasgow, as part of the Pop Up Events programme by the Glasgow Film Theatre.
Kit’s film returns to the location of the 1957 film, The Bridge on the River Kwai in Kitulgala in Sri Lanka. He made this work as part of his residency in Sura Medura in early 2013. Kit ventured in to the Sri Lankan countryside to see what he could find and by sheer chance, serendipity, he found Samuel Perera, one of the many locals who were employed to work on the film either as actors or craftsmen, still living close to the the bridge site. Using found footage and relaxed interviewing Kit’s film gently tells the story of how the the “River Kwai” and its famous bridge came about.