Under Mango Trees – Women in the Sri Lankan Civil War

Sathajini

She escaped from school to join the Tamil Tigers when she was 19 and fought on the battlefront for a sovereign Tamil state «Tamil Eelam».

Vijayambikai

After her brother fell, early in the liberation struggle, she joined the Tamil Tigers. She was a combatant for twenty years. The war injuries and traumas weigh heavily on her.

Rammenike

She is a Sinhalese farmer who lived in the centre of the combat zone. She lost her husband and eldest son in a Tamil Tiger attack.

Ambika

In 2008 she was forcibly recruited by the Tamil Tigers and had to fight at the battlefront until the end of the war in May 2009.

Bareera

As a a Muslim, in autumn 1990 she was driven out of northern Sri Lanka by the Tamil Tigers, together with 70'000 other Muslims. Together with her husband and new-born child she escaped in a boat.

Damaris Lüthi

She is the filmmaker. Her research for the film, fundraising, filming and editing took her from 2012 until 2024. She is a Social Anthropologist with focus on the Tamil society in South Asia, as well as a Visual Anthropologist.