Filmmakers featured in GFF
Lester James Peries
 Sri Lanka’s most prolific director, Lester James Peries worked for
the Times of Ceylon, as a broadcaster at Radio Ceylon, and was involved
in a theatre group known as the ‘Drama Circle’. In this he was engaged
in all aspects of productions other than acting.
In 1956 Lester made his entry into national cinema with the globally
acclaimed Rekhava. He made many award-winning films such as Gamperaliya,
Delovak Athara, Golu Hadawatha, Nidhanaya and Yuganthaya..
GFF featured Beddegama, The Village in the Jungle (1980), which tells
the story of Silindu, and excellent hunter skilled with movements
exceeding those of animals. A tragedy of a traditional villager during
the period of English.
Prasanna Vithanage
 Vithanage became a theatre man just after the leaving school. His
first film was Sisila Gini Gani (Ice on Fire) which won nine OCIC awards
including Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress. Anantha Rathriya
(Dark night of the soul) was his second film screened in 1996, which
earned him the Film Critics Forum Award.
In 2001 he battled against a ministerial decision on the ban of his
third film Purahanda Kaluwara (Darkness on a Full Moon) in 1997 by
attempting to convince the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka on freedom of
expression. GFF featured Pavuru Valalu, The Walls Within (1997), which
takes place in Galle Fort. It tells about a woman whose steady life is
disrupted due to the arrival of a long-lost love.
Dharmasiri Bandaranayeke
Bandaranayeke’s maiden film is Hansa Vilak in 1980, which was
followed by Tunweni Yamaya, Suddilage Kathawa, Bavaduka and Bavakarma.
He deals with conflicted lives of men and women, transformation of
private lives into public affairs. Bandaranayeke is a filmmaker
attempting to connect the socio-political environment with the civil
society through his art.
GFF featured Thunveni Yamaya, Third Part of the Night (1983), which
is known as a film that changed the course of contemporary artistic
cinema. It is a tale of lost childhood innocence and its repercussions.
Sumithra Peries
 Sumithra met Lester James Peries when he was at the Cannes Film
Festival to screen his first film Rekhava. It was the first Sinhala film
Sumithra saw. This encounter led Sumithra take up studies in filmmaking
in the London School of Film Technique and was awarded a Diploma in Film
Direction and Production. She was the only woman studying films at the
school that time. Sumithra began as an assistant director on Lester’s
second film Sandesaya and directed many films on her own later on.
GFF featured Sagara Jalaya, Letter written in Sand (1988), which is
known as Sumithra’s most challenging film to date. The film won every
Sri Lankan national award and was selected as one of the ten best Asian
films at the Tokyo International Film Festival. It’s based on Simon
Nawagathegama’s short story of a struggling widow.
Vimukthi Jayasundara
 Cannes d’Or Winner Jayasundara was a film journalist before his first
documentary Land of Silence. Jayasundara studied in France at the
Fresnoy School of Art, before becoming a resident at the Cinefoundation
of the Festival de Cannes in 2003.
GFF featured Sulanga Enu Pinisa, The Forsaken Land (2005), which is a
near dialogue-free film portraying a self-imagination of the Sri Lankan
army - a film scoffed at by locals for downgrading the Sri Lankan
culture.
Asoka Handagama
 Handagama holds a first class Honours degree in Mathematics. His most
controversial stage play ‘Maghata’, which questioned the judicial system
of the country, won the Best Director and Script in 1989.
His debut film Chanda Kinnarai was awarded Best film, Director and
Screenplay at the 1998 OCIC awards. GFF featured Thani Tatuven Piyabanna,
flying with one wing (2002), which is about a woman deciding to pass as
a man. She gets a job as a mechanic and even takes a wife. It reveals
how she is forced to confront when her secret is revealed. |
