Bawa’s Garden is a road movie in search of the work of renowned Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa. The film follows a protagonist scouring the island for the ‘lost’ garden of Lunuganga. Finding the treasure might be the goal, yet her search is the catalyst for encounters with a series of characters and rarely visited buildings that reveal the story of Bawa’s life and work. Shot across Sri Lanka, this experimental documentary weaves dreamlike narratives with real life characters intrinsic to the output of this renowned 20th-century architect.  This alternative docudrama is tantamount to the eclectic and quietly moving work of Bawa’s buildings and gardens, and the collaborators that influenced his oeuvre.

Bawa’s Garden is nominated for Best Documentary Feature and Best Cinematography at the Raindance Film Festival, London, October 2022. It has screened at the Architecture and Design Film Festival (ADFF) New York (September 2022); Arquiteturas Film Festival, Porto, Portugal (September 2022); and will screen at ADFF Los Angeles (Jan 2023) and Montreal Independent Film Festival (Spring 2023).

The musical score for Bawa’s Garden was kindly supported by the Fenton Arts Trust, PRS for Music, and the RVW Trust.