Buddhist Film Festival inaugurated
Priyanka KURUGALA
The inaugural ceremony of the Buddhist Film Festival 2011 was
officially held under the patronage of President Mahinda Rajapaksa at
Presidential Secretariat, Colombo yesterday.
Along with the inaugural ceremony of the Buddhist Film Festival 2011,
the awards ceremony of International Buddhist Film Festival in 2010 was
also held.
Film producers from Malaysia, the US, Germany, Belgium, India,
Canada, Iran, Australia, Japan, Switzerland, and France were given
awards by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
"Our expectation is propagating Buddhism to the world community
through the media," Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa participating at the
inaugural ceremony of the 2600th Sri Sambuddha Jayanthi Buddhist Film
Festival stated.
One of the main intentions is to tell the world about Buddhism
through the audio video mediums, he said. "It is a great pleasure that,
already a number of countries have started to produce Buddhist films for
the Buddhist Film Festival in 2011.
"We expect to make Sri Lanka the center of Buddhist films in 2011. We
hope to hold the greatest Vesak ceremony in 2011, which will make Sri
Lanka glitter in the world."
An archaeologist from Nepal Dr Bisntha Binari said that Kapilawasthu
and Lumbini are the most important places in Nepal and a large number of
Buddhist pilgrims from Sri Lanka and other countries visit annually.
Awards were presented to local and foreign films in five categories.
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