Vidu Gunaratna

Vidu Gunaratna was born on February 24, 1980 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. In 1989, his family was forced to flee to Germany because of the civil war. In 1990, after the Velvet Revolution, they settled in The Czech Republic.

A Master's graduate in Cinematography from FAMU (The Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague), Vidu holds a Dean's award for excellent results in studies and meticulousness in preparation of artistic projects. He has been a full member of the Czech Society of Cinematographers (AČK) since 2013 and was elected into the Board of the AČK two years later.

Vidu was the first Czech cinematography student to shoot a film, Non-Swimmers, in DC4K. In Hospodářské noviny, Vidu was chosen as one of the most talented young Czech cinematographers by Academy Award-winning cinematographer Jaromír Šofr AČK. Non-Swimmers won The Czech Lion – Magnesia Award, the highest Czech film award for best student picture. Vidu has been an Assistant Professor at FAMU's Cinematography department since 2017, where he teaches colour grading and mentors student films.

As director of photography, Vidu has lensed two feature films, over 30 shorts, several TV series and numerous documentaries, commercials, and music videos.

Vidu is fluent in Czech, English, German, and speaks some Sinhala. He is vegetarian and likes to spend his free time with photography.