Republic of Amnesia (2025, 78 mins, UK/Sri Lanka) follows the rise and fall of Sri Lanka’s Aragalaya (“The Struggle”) — the youth-led protest movement that forced authoritarian president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country in 2022.

At its heart are young activists like Melani, Buwanaka and Jeana, who lead marches, face arrest, and fight for a more inclusive future.   As they challenge a corrupt political dynasty and a system rigged to resist change, their struggle raises a deeper question: can fragile hope survive in a country built on forgetting?  A political coming-of-age story, not only for the young people at its centre, but also for a country grappling with memory, dissent and the cost of forgetting.   The spirit of creative defiance that shaped the Aragalaya has since rippled across parts of Asia, giving the film renewed resonance through these wider parallels.

Find out more and watch the trailer here.

The screening of this powerful feature documentary will be followed by a panel discussion and audience Q&A with the filmmaker, Mr Kannan Arunasalam, and Dr Lauren Dempster (QUB), Professor Brian Dooley (Human Rights First) and Dr Nikhil Narayan (QUB).

This event is co-hosted with the School of Law and the Human Rights Centre, Queen’s University Belfast.