Five Lankan artistes honoured with Bunka Awards

The 19th Bunka (Cultural) awards ceremony organised by the Japan Sri Lanka Friendship Cultural Fund was held at the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation.

The Bunka Awards are presented annually by the Fund, established in 1993, on the initiative of the Japanese Solidarity Association and the Japanese Commerce and Industry Association in Sri Lanka, in collaboration with the Japanese embassy.

For the past 18 years, 103 such awards have been presented to mid-career individuals and organisations on the basis of their creative activities in culture and the arts to encourage and promote individual and collective talent in these fields in Sri Lanka. The following five Sri Lankan artists received the Bunka (Cultural) Awards: Sudath Mahaadivulwewa - Film and Theatre; Upuli Panibharatha - Dancing; Athula Ransirilal Perera - Animation and Dubbing; Mary Josita Peter - Dancing; Priyantha Sirikumara - Theatre.

Culture and the Arts Minister T B Ekanayake was the Chief Guest. Japanese ambassador Nobuhito Hobo and Japan Sri Lanka Friendship Cultural Fund Selection Committee Co-Chairpersons Akihiko Nakauchi and Prof Carlo Fonseka and Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation chairman Mohan Samaranayake were present. Addressing the gathering, Hobo recalled the historic occasion of the San Francisco Peace Conference where Sri Lanka extended a hand of friendship to Japan in the aftermath of the Word War II.

He said the Bunka Awards ceremony this year was special as it coincides with the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Sri Lanka and that this Fund is a symbol of goodwill on the part of Japanese residents living in this country towards Sri Lankans.

The Bunka Awards presentation ceremony will be telecast over Rupavahini shortly.