Harshini J. Karunaratne: Student, photographer (still) and director in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

My film and visual art projects explore the transformation of physical form --and our perceptions of it. My work is often interactive. I am interested in the relationship between nature and artificiality because it often triggers larger questions about our humanity. I do experiments with light, sound and kinetics, which are what films and videos are made of. I do this because film and video are optical illusions, yet they are widely accepted as veridic or “truthful” in our culture and have become an integral to how we understand and create our reality. My work explores the tension between reality (which may be subjective and often relates to perception) and actuality (which often relates to the effect of actions of a body in existence). I find that a dialogue between these two elements often spins other dialogues regarding identity, history, transculturalism and acceptance at large. I apply these notions to places and bodies as well. I believe that humor is often the best tool to communicate complex ideas and concepts. I like loose narratives. I love Butoh dance and time-lapse animation (both of which deconstruct movement and time, respectively). I respect the defining properties of negative space and the invisible. This includes sound and magnetism, which often create fantastic and bewildering effects. I worked as a sound editor and designer for many years. I often do not use sound in my video installations, but when I do, it is an essential part of the work.

Hello! I'm in London for a short while and would love to get to know folks interested in film and/or photography! Or if you have any recommendations of things to see or do while I'm here, I'd love to know. Thanks in advance :)

Hi all! I'm researching on the topic of 'film as a sensory experience'. Any suggestions of films - feature length or short - that explore this idea? Thanks in advance! :)

So I'm new to Stage32 - my name is Harshini, and I'm just about to start my second year at New York University Abu Dhabi, where I study Film & New Media and Theatre. I'm a Sri Lankan - Peruvian who loves to travel and learn languages. I've joined Stage32 to get to know people doing the field I'm studying, learn from everyone, get some critique and also find opportunities for collaboration :) Feel free to reach out to me any time. http://harshinijk.wix.com/hjkportfolio

Hello, my name is Matt and I am a writer looking to develop my own screenplay material and work with others to help them develop their projects too. I would love to find a position to help me grow my skills and successfully put together quality films with others! Career development opportunities welcome!!!

Hello Harshini -

Welcome to the community! I'm Amanda Toney, the Managing Director at Stage 32. Since 2013 I've been proud to oversee Stage 32's Next Level Education, which provides you the most up-to-date tools necessary to become a better creative.

Over the years Stage 32 has worked with over 500 industry executives and professionals to teach online webinars, classes and intensive labs exclusively for you - our Stage 32 community. We bring you instructors who have worked directly on some of your favorite films, TV shows or theater productions to teach you in-the-trenches information that you won't find anywhere else on producing, directing, financing, writing, packaging, acting and more.

Our Next Level Education has a 97% satisfaction rate and averages 4.5 out of 5 stars. Plus, we've had the honor to be called "LinkedIn meets Lynda.com for film, television and theater creatives" by Forbes Magazine.

I encourage you to take the next step to continue learning and expanding your career by clicking here, or clicking "education" on your top menu bar.

I'm grateful you've joined the Stage 32 community. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Amanda

Hi Harshini. I'm RB, Founder and CEO of Stage 32. As a screenwriter, producer, actor and filmmaker, I know first-hand the challenges all creatives face finding work, landing representation, launching projects, securing funding and simply making the connections that will make a difference in their careers. That's why I created Stage 32. Since our launch in September of 2011, the community has grown to 400,000+ members representing every country on the planet making Stage 32 the social network uniquely populated with the most creative people on Earth.

This is a network for you, built by you. Like most things in life, the more you participate, the greater the rewards. We ask all new members to pay it forward by inviting 5 fellow creatives to the network and by spreading the word of Stage 32 through other social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. The more creatives, the stronger the network. The stronger the network, the more opportunities.

Thanks for joining the movement and for being a part of this most talented and inspiring community. I very much look forward to your contributions.

Thanks, and have a creative day!

RB

Helpful information:

• To send invites to your fellow creatives, please click here.
• For any questions on how to utilize the site, please check our HELP and GETTING STARTED sections.
• Also, I host a FREE webinar every month where I go over site features and answer user questions. You can view them here.

Please take a moment to follow and like our other social media accounts.

• My personal Twitter account - @rbwalksintoabar
• Our company Twitter account - @stage32online.com
• Our company Facebook account – Stage 32 Facebook