Treasures From the Deep: Cinema of Sri Lanka

By: kuxa kanema

The Sinhalese arrived in Sri Lanka late in the 6th century b.c., probably from northern India. In the 14th century, a south Indian dynasty seized power in the north and established a Tamil kingdom. Occupied by the Portuguese in the 16th century and by the Dutch in the 17th century, the island was ceded to the British in 1796, became a crown colony in 1802, and was united under British rule by 1815. As Ceylon, it became independent in 1948; its name was changed to Sri Lanka in 1972. Tensions between the Sinhalese majority and Tamil separatists erupted in violence in the mid-1980s.The government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam began a ceasefire in December 2001. In a rare occurrence in modern history the conflict that had 30 years of constant fighting, halted several times briefly by failed peace overtures, ended by a military outcome with a comprehensively defeat of the Tamil Tigers May 2009.

1901 marked the introduction of film to Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon) when a film was shown for the first time in the country at a private screening for the British governor West Ridgeway and prisoners of the Second Boer War. It was a short film that documented the British victory in the Boer War, the burial of Queen Victoria and the coronation of Edward VII. More English screenings followed and attracted British settlers and Anglicized Sinhalese. Cinema in Sri Lanka became a public affair due to the efforts of Warwick Major, an Englishman who developed “bioscope” showings. These were films screened out in open areas and makeshift tents. The first permanent theaters were built by Madan Theaters in 1903. The company showed Indian films and achieved success, prompting the development of theaters by the rival Olympia.
In 1925 Rajakeeya Wickremaya (English:Royal Adventure) became the first film to be made in Sri Lanka. Dr N.M. Perera played the lead in the film which was shown in India and Singapore. However this film reels got burnt before they were shown in Sri Lanka. In 1933 the film Paliganeema was screened in Colombo. During the 1920s and 1930s films with American stars like Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Rudolph Valentino, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. were popular in Sri Lanka. The Shiekh and The Thief of Bagdad were especially popular. in 1932, the first sound film to be screened was shown at the Regal Cinema, titled “The Dream.” By the 1930s Indian films started to surpass English films in popularity. Bilwa Mangal set an early record for Sri Lankan box office earning. The beginnings of cinemas spread was seen when the Indan Madan circuit establsished Elphinstone cinema in Colombo as a part of his extensive cinema chain in Asia. Empire cinema, which became the longest functioning cinema in Sri Lanka was established in 1915 and continued to function till 2003 when it was demolished to make way for a commercial building in Colombo

Kadawunu Poronduwa (Broken Promise), made in 1947 with Sinhalese language dialogue, is accepted as the first Sri Lankan film. It was produced by S.M.Nayagam for Chitrakala Movietone in South India. After its release, more Sinhala films were produced in South Indian studios, using actors and actresses shipped over from Ceylon. These films, nurtured by Indian directors and technicians, were really South Indian in attitude, formation and presentation. Many were direct copies of South Indian films in both storyline and acting styles. The three major commercial production and distribution companies, Ceylon Theatres, Ceylon Studios and Ceylon Entertainments began to have a virtual monopoly of the cinema industry in Ceylon by the late 1940’s. The audiences for imported Tamil and Hindi films outstripped those for Sinhala films. With the granting of independence to Ceylon in 1948 and the emergence of nationalism, efforts were made to redeem the Sinhala film from Indian influences. Sirisena Wimalaweera, who opened his Navajeevana Film Studios in 1951 and produced a film – Podi Putha (Younger Son) in 1955 – is credited with giving birth to the indigenous cinema of Sri Lanka. The Government Film Unit (GFU) was established in 1948 to produce newsreels and documentaries to educate the people on their newly won independence. Noted for its ‘creative treatment of actuality’ and high filmmaking standards, many GFU films won international awards. It became the ‘nursery’ from which many of Sri Lanka’s future eminent filmmakers emerged. Unfortunately, in later decades, its standards deteriorated when it became the outright tool of government propaganda.

The early Sinhalese films were all made in South India. They moved just one step ahead from the stage to the screen. Being produced in South India, they came under considerable influence of the South Indian movies in the late 1940s and early-’50s. It was a case of producing “formula films”, which required a menu of songs and dances around a melodramatic story. Again, these formula films were not the actual cause of decline; it was the powerful lobby of importers and distributors of films. These group of people who were making huge profits from imported films, shown in the few cinema circuits which they owned, spent just a fraction of their profits for the production of Sinhalese films.
They had no interest from the beginning in the production of films of quality or in developing a national film industry. They financed the production of a handful of Sinhala films each year, just to keep the audiences happy. And also through this sponsorship of the Sinhalese film they kept the emerging nascent nationalism at bay. But the situation changed somewhat in 1956, when an outburst of nationalism brought the first major change of government in Sri Lanka. The new government put a stop to the making of Sinhalese films abroad. This was the first attempt to develop a Sri Lankan film industry, at a time when the massive audiences were in the mood for the development of films of truly Sri Lankan character. The film importers and distributors who had hitherto been subsidising the production of a few films abroad, started diverting some capital to the setting up of studios and other necessary infrastructure. Sri Lankan cinema industry for the first time saw capital formation within the industry. It was the time of a great cultural upheaval in arts and culture in the country. The Sinhalese stage led the way with highly successful productions using new trends in theatre and stagecraft. The theatre moved away from the stiff realism of the past to more experimental forms of presentation, which resulted in more lively and creative productions.

Here are ten Sri Lankan film makers who have helped shape Sri Lanka’s beautiful cinematic history

1.B. A. W. Jayamanne
B. Aloy W. Jayamanne was a Sri Lankan playwright, director, producer and actor. He played a major role in the making of the first Sinhala film Kadawunu Poronduwa in 1947; Jayamanne achieved a level of popularity as a director with movies starring Rukmani Devi and Eddie Jayamanne in the 1950s. Aloy and his brother Eddie were born in Negombo to W. Don Thomas, a teacher at Maris Stella College. They formed the Minerva theater group in the 1930s and achieved some fame running plays that depicted contemporary middle class and village situations in contrast to the Tower Hall plays popular at the time which featured archaic tales of Sri Lankan kings. The Minerva dramas usually featured Rukmani Devi, Eddie and Jemini Kantha in the lead roles. Around 1947, Aloy was approached by South Indian producer S. M. Nayagam to turn his popular play Kadawunu Poronduwa into a movie. Nayagam had noted its popularity and concluded that it would be a fairly viable investment. Although having misgivings initially, Aloy relented and the film was produced and released to commercial success in April 1947. Aloy subsequently oversaw the adaption of a couple of his other plays before trying his hand at directing with Hadisi Vinischaya (with Mabel Blythe taking over for Jemini Kantha) in 1949. Due to the infancy of the film industry, BAW managed to dominate box office with minimal competition over the following years. Sangawunu Pilithura was released in 1951 and Umathu Wishwasaya in 1952.Aloy had one of his biggest hits with Kele Handa in 1953; it made Sri Lankan film history as the first direct literary adaption and introduced actress Rita Ratnayake. His subsequent films include Iranganie (1954), Mathabedaya (1955, introducing actress Ruby de Mel), Daiva Vipakaya (1956), Wanaliya (1958), Hadisi Vivahaya (1959), Kawata Andare (1960), Jeewithe Pujawe (1961), Mangalika (1963) and Magul Poruwa (1967).[Aloy died on February 16, 1965 while making the film Magul Poruwa. It was completed by S. Ramanathan.

1949 Hadisi Vinischaya
1951 Sangawunu Pilithura
1952 Umathu Wishwasaya
1953 Kele Handa
1954 Iranganie
1955 Mathabedaya
1956 Daiva Vipakaya
1958 Wanaliya
1959 Hadisi Vivahaya
1960 Kawata Andare
1961 Jeewithe Pujawe
1963 Mangalika
1967 Magul Poruwa

2.Lester James Peries
Lester James Peries (born April 5, 1919) is an internationally acclaimed Sri Lankan film director, screenwriter, and film producer.¹²³ An active filmmaker since 1949, Peries has been involved in over 28 films, including shorts and documentaries. His first feature was titled “Rekawa”, 1956 (The line of fate on one’s palm). It was a film that made a total departure from the formula films of the past, and the carbon copies of Indian films. It was hailed by critics, and more importantly, was also accepted by the audiences. The enthusiasm generated by all these developments in theatre and cinema moved to the ‘60s. At that time there was a growing demand among the audiences for a better local cinema. The film culture was broadened with a new Sinhalese intelligentsia writing about the cinema in a more serious manner, and discussing the global masterpieces of cinema. Lester James Peries changed the face of Sinhala cinema forever. He used amateur actors and moved outside the confines of the studio, shooting on location in natural light. For the first time, the people of the country and their environment and culture were portrayed realistically on the screen. It was shown at the Cannes Film Festival and received international critical acclaim for ’its poetry and honesty’. Peries’ next film, Gamperaliya (The Changing Village/1963) became both a commercial and critical success worldwide. Considered a milestone in mainstream cinema, it clearly set out the path Sri Lankan Sinhala cinema was to take. It won the Grand Prix (Golden Peacock) Award at the 3rd International Film Festival of India in New Delhi in 1965.

2006 Elegy for a Mother
2003 Mansion by the Lake
1990 West End
1983 Yagunthaya
1982 Kaliyugaya
1980 Village in the Jungle
1979 Brave Puran Appu
1977 White Flowers for the Dead
1976 Enchanted Island
1974 The God King
1972 Five Acres of Land
1972 The Eyes
1972 The Treasure
1969 Golu hadawatha
1967 The Yellow Dress
1966 Between Two Worlds
1965 Changes in the Village
1960 The Message
1956 Rekava

3.Dharmasena Pathiraja
Educated at Dharmaraja College, Kandy,Pathiraja graduated from the University of Peradeniya with an honours degree in Sinhala and Western Classical Culture in 1967. Subsequently he began work as a lecturer in Drama and Performance Arts. and later obtained a PhD in Bengali cinema from Monash University.His Thesis is The Dialectic of Region and Nation in the Films of Bengali Independents: Ghatak, Ray and Sen(2001)] .He learnt the language of cinema from Lester James Peries and others, but he also recognized their socio-political limitations in a country which was heading for a period of deep turmoil. He also studied the cinema of radical activists like Jean-Luc Godard, Third Cinema filmmakers like Fernando Solanas and Glauber Rocha, and Asians like Mrinal Sen, Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak. Pathiraja made a short 10 minute film titled Saturo in 1970. His full-length feature film Ahas Gauwa followed four years later. Dealing with the urban lower class, the film was atypical of most commercial films of that period. It was critically well-received, sweeping the FCJAC Awards landing Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor and winning the Office Catholique Internationale Du Cinema (Sri Lanka) awards for Best Film and Best Director. 1975’s Eya Dan Loku Lamayek was Sri Lanka’s entry at the 8th Moscow International Film Festival, winning a Special Diploma for Female Performance in 1976 and the Special award from the peace council of the USSR to be screened at the 18th Venice Film Festival in Bergamo, Italy in 1975.
1978’s Bambaru Avith is widely considered Pathiraja’s masterpiece. That year it represented Sri Lanka at the 9th Moscow International Film Festival and was screened at the Venice and Los Angeles Film Festivals. In Sri Lanka it was awarded Best Director and Best Film honors at the first Presidential Film Awards and the OCIC Awards. In 1997 a special council selected to celebrate 50 years of Sri Lankan Cinema named it the fourth best Sri Lankan film of all-time.

2001Some Day in the Future
1981 Mr. Soldier
1980 Along the Road
1977 The Wasps Are Here
1977 Younger Sister
1975 How to Be an Adult
1974 Ahas Gauwa
1969 Enemies

4.D. B. Nihalsinghe
D.B Nihalsinghe is urguably the most versatile person in film and television in Sri Lanka- with a respected reputation in both film and television being one of the most senior Sri Lankan film directors and film industry pioneers with over 40 years of distinguished service to both industries. No individual in film and television in Sri Lanka has contributed in a hugely varied facets: in film and television artistry; in technical advancement; in training new talent; in administration; in exploring creating new areas(e.g. CinemaCope,video projection, unleashing supprssed demand for national films); discovering and launching new actors in film and television;as a film and television teacher; in documentary, short film and long form in film and television and so much more. In that regard he was a pioneer of professional color television production in South Asia and Sri Lanka, (as founding CEO of South Asia’s first professional color television production house, Tele-Cine Limited, in 1979). He is also a respected film and television administrator ( as the Director of the Ceylon Government Film Unit and founding CEO of the State Film Corporation)and film and television teacher (as Senior Fellow in Film and Television at the University of Kelaniya), with students and trainees in Sri Lanka and Malaysia. His career also includes notable work as a cameraman, editor, producer and director in Sri Lankan film and television. His best known work is Welikathara, Sri Lanka’s first feature in Cinemascope

1987Maldeniye Simion
1971 Welikathara

5.H.D Premaratne
Premaratne’s first directorial effort was Sikuruliya (1975) starring Joe Abeywickrama, Vijaya Kumaratunga and Suwinitha Weerasinghe. It followed the extramarital affairs of a woman married to a dwarf. In 1978, his sophomore work Apeksha was released. It featured Malini Fonseka and Amarasiri Kalansuriya and music by Clarence Wijewardena including the song “Senakeliye”. Premaratne won the Sarasaviya Best Director Award twice for Palama Yata (1990) and Kula Geya (1992).

1994 Visidela
1993 The City
1993 Saptha Kanya
1993 Udusulanga
1992 Kulageya
1990 Under the Bridge
1990 Saharawe Sihinaya
1988 Mangala Thegga
1986 Aadara Hasuna
1982 Deveni Gamana
1980 Parithyagaya
1979 Apeksha
1975 Sikuruliya

6.Sumitra Peries
With advice of her brother Gamini she studied French in Laussanne, Switzerland in 1950’s. She met Lester there and he was to screen his first film Rekava at the Cannes Film Festival and Lester advised her to study movie making in London rather than in France. She studied film making at the London School of Film Technique and was awarded a Diploma in Film Direction and Production (1957-1959). She was the only woman studying this subject there at that time. After passing out, she began working at Mai Harris, a subtitling firm for a short period and returned back to home in Sri Lanka. Sumitra’s brother Gamini contacted Lester and checked the possibility of her sister to work with him. Lester agreed and Sumitra started the work as assistant director in his second film Sandesaya. A filmmaking company called Cinelanka was established in 1963 with Anton Wickramasinghe also Lester and Sumitra as major shareholders. In 1980’s Sumitra was a member of the Presidential Commission for two years to conducted an inquiry into Sri Lanka’s film sector regarding all aspects of the industry such as its troubles, statistics, public opinions and recommendations. She was in charge of production for Worldview International in Sri Lanka in period of 1988-1990. Also during the period of late 1980s and early 1990s, she was a member of the Board of Management of the Institute of Aesthetique Studies, Kelaniya University, Sri Lanka and Prof A J Gunewardena was the Director General of the Institute at that time. Sumitra has been working as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to France won the award for the best film director in fifty (50) years of Sri Lankan cinema.

1994 Lokuduwa
1984 Maya
1982 Yahulu yeheli
1980 Ganga Addara
1978 Gahanu Lamai

7.Prasanna Vithanage
Prasanna Vithanage (born in 1962) is one of Sri Lanka’s most notable filmmakers. His films have won many awards, both local and international. His most recent film Akasa Kusum (Flowers of the Sky) ran for a record 77 days across 24 screens in Sri Lanka. He was involved in theatre ever since he left school. In 1992 he directed his first film ‘Sisila Gini Gani’ (Ice on Fire (film)). It won nine OCIC (Sri Lanka) awards including Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress. His fourth feature, Purahanda Kaluwara (Darkness on a Full Moon Day), came in 1997. It was initially banned by the government of Sri Lanka. Later the ban was lifted. It won the Grand Prix award at the Amiens Film Festival. His wife is actress Damayanthi Fonseka, sister of Malini Fonseka also known as the ‘Queen of Sinhalese Cinema’.

2008Akasa Kusum
2003 August Sun
1997 Pavuru Valalu
1997 Pura Handa Kaluwara
1996 Anantha Rathriya
1991 Fire on Ice

8.Linton Semage
Linton Semage is a highly respected actor and director working in Sri Lankan cinema. His 1998 film the Outcast was highly regarded and s a truly minimalist film, which is rather rare for South Asia. There are no subplots intertwining to obscure the main plot; not a single unnecessary word is spoken; no scenery is exploited to divert the audience from the main issue. Space is used sparingly and economically. Acting is never theatrical. A lonely widower begins to lust for his neighbor’s young and attractive wife. The affair that ensues brings his downfall; in the process, the whole community suffers. The director, who plays the lead, has been a dancer, theatre director, and mime artist, all of which seem to have influenced his directing as well as his acting. The Outcast recalls similar films by Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray and, more recently, Iran’s Abbas Kiarostami. Like the work of those directors, Semage’s film grapples with universal concepts of loneliness, jealously, poverty, and the destructive nature of gossip. Emotions run deep but are largely repressed and internalized. Semage’s style is direct with a minimum of fat; he uses static medium shots (with camera movement used mainly for punctuation) and a methodical pace to good effect. Even as the main character Semage’s physical movements are deliberate and almost like that of a dancer, lending the film a hypnotic air.

2001Pickpocket
1998 The Outcast

9.Asoka Handagama
Asoka Handagama was born in 1962, in the South Central of the Island away from the influences of sophisticated urban city life. He obtained his primary and secondary schooling in a provincial school and went on to read Mathematics at University where he was awarded a first class honors degree. After obtaining M.Sc in Development Economic at Warwick University in the U.K. in 1995, he returned to Sri Lanka and is Currently employed at middle management level at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Asoka Handagama’s entry to film making was via the theater and television. His maiden theatrical effort, Bhoomika was to address the seedling emerging ethnic crisis in the Island. The play won the National Youth award for best direction in 1985. His second stage play Thunder, was placed second runner up in the Best script in 1987 State drama Festival. Then came Magatha. The play, with its radical theatrical form, bravely questioned the existing judicial system of the country.
Asoka’s exercises in the field of TV-art, were unique. Duhnidda Addara, is a clear land mark in the history of so called tele-dramas in Sri Lanka. It won all nine main awards including the Best Script and Direction, at the OCIC awards in 1994. Chanda Kinnarie, was his debut effort in cinema. The film won the Award for Most Promising Director at the CRITICS” awards in 1994. It was also awarded Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay at the 1998 OCIC awards. When he made his second film Moon Hunt (1996) he used the experienced Japanese cinematographer Akira. It won 6 main awards from Sri Lanka Film Critic’s Forum awarded for Best Film, Best Director , Best Script, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Cinematography in 2000. Perhaps the most courageous act of Asoka Handagama’s career to date is his, This is my moon. Considered by many prestigious names in the Sri Lankan film world to be the best film of the decade. This is my moon is his honest response to the ethnic conflict currently raging in the Country.

2005A Letter of Fire
2002 Flying with One Wing
2000 This Is My Moon
1998 Moon Lady
1996 Moon Hunt

10.Vimukthi Jayasundara
Vimukthi Jayasundara was born in Ratnapura, Sri Lanka. He was educated at Mahinda College, Galle. Vimukthi began his cinematic career as a journalist, film critic and screenwriter. He attended the Institute for Film and Television in Pune, India. He returned to Sri Lanka and was employed at the Lowe Lintas Worldwide ad agency as a copywriter for three years. His 1st film The Land Of Silence, a documentary in black and white about the victims of civil war, which was selected by several festivals including Marseilles, Rotterdam and Berlin, The film made with cinematographic equipment from the 1960s and interspersed with occasional dialogues deliberately not translated but relayed by a background commentary, the film transforms images of the present into ghostly archives. It refuses to intensify the horror by making it appear close at hand, and denounces the alliance between technological virtuosity and fascination with war. Rather, it has faith in “history as a source of knowledge” to counteract silence. n 2005 he directed his first feature, The Forsaken Land-Sulanga Enu Pinisa]]. It won the 2005 Cannes Film Festival Camera d’Or.¹ He was the first Sri Lankan to win the prestigious award. The film is minimalist, constructed with sparse dialogue and a haunting tableaux of an isolated desolate rural landscape. The film is considered by many international critics to be one of the most important cinematic statements to emerge from Asia in the last ten years.[citation needed] this film won the Jury Prize at the New Delhi Osian’s-Cinefan international Film Festival in India, 2005 and also won Golden Harvest for the Best Film at the Bangkok world Film festival in Thailand, 2006.

2009 Between Two Worlds
2005 Sulanga Enu Pinisa
2003 Vide pour l’amour

Other notable films from Sri Lanka
Sujatha, T.R Sundaram, 1953
Seda Sulung, T. Somesekeran, 1955
Kurulubedda, L.S. Ramachandran, 1961
Islands of Treasures, Mike Wilson, 1962
Sikuru Tharuwa, L.S Ramanchandran, 1963
Dheewarayo, M Mastan, 1964
Getawarayo, Tissa Liyanasuriya, Mike Wilson, 1964
Sarawita, Tissa Liyanasuriya, 1965
Parasathumal, Gamini Fonseka, 1966
Sorungeth Soru, Tissa Liyanasuriya, Mike Wilson, 1967

Evasana Dana, H.E. Jayasinghe, 1967
Vasanthi, Ananda Wickremasinghe, 1967
Hatara Kendare, L.M Perera, 1967
Saru Bima L.S Ramanchandran, 1967
Sath Samaduru, Siri Gunasinghe, 1967
Mathru Bhumi, Samranthe Dissanayake, 1968
Wahai Dupatha, Shathi Abeysekara, 1968
Narilatha, Tissa Liyanasuriya, 1969
Thun Man Hadiya, Mahagama Sekera, 1970
Palengatiyo, Vasantha Obeysekera, 1978

Hansa Vilak, Dharmasiri Bandaranayake, 1980
Uthumaneni, Gamini Fonseka, 1980
Dadayama, Wasantha Obesekara, 1984
Way of the Lotus, Tissa Abeysekera, 1987
Man and Wife, Amarnath Jayatilaka, 1991
the Promise, Chandran Rutnam*, 1993
Suicide Warriors, Sabiha Sumar, 1996
Bawa Duka, Dharmasiri Bandaranayake, 1997
Dorakada Marawa, Wasantha Obesekara, 1998
Aswesuma, Bennett Rathnayake, 2001

Agnidahaya, Jayantha Chandrasiri, 2002
Punchi Suranganavi, Somaratne Dissanayake, 2002
Sulanga, Bennett Rathnayake, 2004
Guerilla Marketing, Jayantha Chandrasiri, 2005
Dheevari:Fisherman’s Daughter, Salinda Perera, 2006
Sankara, Prasanna Jayakody, 2006
Third Wave, Alison Thompson, 2007
Machan, Uberto Pasolini, 2008
Siri Raja Siri, Somaratne Dissanayake, 2008
Under the Sun and Moon, Bennett Rathnayake, 2008
Bambara Walalla, Athula Lionage, 2009
Circus Monsoon, James Boldistan, 2009