High School Junkies


High School Junkies is a film production company led by Akash Sunethkumara. Founding members include Kasun Rathnasiri, Shenic Tissera and Stefania Perera.

History

The team was created in 2015 by Akash Sunethkumara who needed a crew to work on a short film for a module in his Masters' program. The team was formed entirely from high school friends, based in Negombo Sri Lanka and their first production was the unreleased Star_Crossed.
In 2016, the team worked on EIDETIC, a story about a girl with total recall of her sensory memory, who is blackmailed into locating another eidetic in order to save her terminally ill mother until she discovers that the man she hunts has a far deeper connection to her. The film became Sunethkumara's Masters' thesis project and was subsequently screened at film festivals worldwide including Raindance and was the first Sri Lankan film to be screened at San Diego Comic-Con's Independent Film Festival in 2017.
In 2018, the team then decided to move away from action and tackle the horror genre and began working on The Summoning, a 14-minute short that drew inspiration from real life experiences. The filmmakers cite the Raimi-era of horror movies as an influence on the short film. The team spent 9 months working on this project and it was finally released on Halloween 2018 at the National Film Corporation. The film received praise for its production value and the intricate details within the movie. The Summoning went on to be screened at multiple other festivals and also became the second Sri Lankan film accepted into San Diego Comic-Con's Independent Film Festival.
In 2019, the Junkies created a 3 minute ultra-short follow up to The Summoning, called The Friend which was published on Crypt TV, marking another first for Sri Lanka. They are also in the process of working on their first feature.
The Junkies use minimal equipment and shoestring budgets..

Productions

Additionally, the High School Junkies have also worked on a music video, titled Rise Up on behalf of renowned Sri Lankan-born LA-bred record producer Ruwanga Samath.