His first short film ‘Nihanda Lipiya’ (Silent Letter) won the Best Short Film (debut) award at the Whatashort Independent International Film Festival held in New Delhi, India this year. The film was directed by veteran actor Kamal Addaraarachchi, who received the Best Creation award for his directorial debut. He took a risk with a non-structural 'art house' debut. Screenwriter Thivanka Rukshan Perera, shared his experience with his maiden success of ‘Silent Letter’ during an interview with Asian Mirror, recently.

"I wanted to master writing as my passion is writing", said the young screenwriter. A graduate of Academy of Art University, San Francisco, USA, with a major in screenwriting, Thivanka described how the structured system can effect script writing. "If you need more freedom, think outside of Hollywood", he mentioned.

"Hollywood does not get much stories from Sri Lanka" he added. Hence the cultural elements are not recognized often. Thivanka shared that even though many westerners had difficulties in recognizing Sri Lankan rooted characters in ‘Silent Letter’ due to cultural difference at first but now it has been adopted as a teaching material at his own university.

Speaking about his award winning production, he said that he had developed the story since he spent school vacations at his mother's home town. The story is based on a young boy who is barred by social barriers from reaching his freedom. The film is yet to be screened for Sri Lankan audience and is curious about how they will react to the film in contrast the western audience.

Thivanka's journey is not yet done. He will be back with a new venture in near future.