Sri Lankan
film at Cannes
[April 28, 2003 - 8.00 GMT]
A
Sri Lankan film Wekande Walauwa (Mansion
by the Lake) has been selected for the 56th Cannes Film Festival,
May 15-25 2003.
This is the fourth time
Lester James Peiris, the doyen Sri Lanka’s motion picture industry has
been recognized by the Festival. Rekava in 1957, Baddegama in
1981 and Kaliyugaya in 1982 were his previous works. Cannes has honoured the
veteran by selecting his film sans
competition. Only six other films were selected under this category, this
year.
Dr. Peiris was a member
of the official selection Jury (feature films) of the Cannes Film Festival
in 1982. He was invited in recognition of his great service to Cinema and for
inspiring a whole generation of Sri Lankan filmmakers by laying the
foundation for a serious national cinema and shaping artistic film culture
in the island.
The President of Sri
Lanka, Chandrika Kumaratunga presented Dr. Peiris with a lifetime
Achievement Award in 1997 on the 50th Anniversary of Sri Lankan
cinema.
Dr. Peiris has gained
wide international critical acclaim, at prestigious film festivals such as
Edinburgh and Karlovy Vary and at Cannes. Georges Sadoul, the influential
French film critic, called Revaka “a model of poetry and
honesty”.
Peiris has also been the
recipient of the Sarasavi Film Festival Rana Tisara award. He was bestowed
an honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Colombo, 1985. In 1992,
the Republic of France made him Commander of Arts and Letters in their
Legion of Honour.
In 2000 he received a
lifetime achievement award at the International Film Festival of India held
in New Delhi. In the same year, he received the Medal of the City and the
Golden Lotus for his contribution to Asian cinema at the Asian Film Festival
of Deauville.
‘The Mansion by the
Lake’ depicts a Buddhist upper class family in the late 1980s.
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Last Updated
Date: April 28, 2003 - 8.00
GMT. |
