JEDDAH: “Aganthukaya — The Outcast,” a film by Vasantha Obeyesekere, was the Sri Lankan feature film screened at the 2nd Asian Film Festival organized by the Asian Consuls General Club here on Saturday night. The film depicts the personal conflict of a person who upholds justice, fair play and honesty as the prime values. Sampath is a school principal who is devoted to his vocation. He lives a very simple, exemplary life, struggling to give his wife, a music teacher, and his primary school daughter the best he could afford with his and his wife’s earnings. His ideal in life is his father, a principled man who falls victim to the insurgency that erupted in southern Sri Lanka in late 1980s. His honesty drags him to a conflict with a provincial minister who interferes with his school administration. He faces many false allegations and threats that are unbearable. These factors push Sampath to take a difficult decision that would affect him, his wife and the child, and the consequences nevertheless are tragic. “Obeyesekere, the film’s scriptwriter and director, has endeavored to depict an ordinary school principal who strives to lead an honest life, true to his conscience and one that his little daughter will be proud of when she grows up,” Sri Lankan Consul General Abdul Latiff Mohamed Lafeer said in his introductory remarks. Should we accept such situations in one’s life as fate, as situations that need to be condoned by the society, or do we only sympathize with such individuals and go our own way are some of the questions that the film discusses. Produced by National Film Corporation, the 100-minute Sinhala language movie with English subtitles and starring Saumya Liayanage and Chandani Seneviratne, was released in 2007. A documentary film on “Sri Lanka — A Land Like No Other” was also shown. It depicts the multifaceted country and its varied tourist attractions.