‘LESTER JAMES PERIES ORATION’ ON SATURDAY
Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne will be the Chief Guest at the third annual ‘Lester James Peries Oration’ which will be held at 5 pm on Saturday June 15 at the BMICH Committee Room ‘B’.
French Ambassador Christine Robichon will be the Guest of Honour at this event which is open to the public. Prof. Sunil Ariyaratne will speak on ‘Songs of Lester-Sumitra Cinema’ while Lakshman Joseph de Saram will speak on ‘Music and the Moving Image’. Senior professor of the Sinhala Language, Mass Media and Communication Faculty of the Sri Jayewardenepura University, Prof. Sunil Ariyaratne is also an acclaimed film director, lyricist, poet, and, an indefatigable researcher into the less familiar aspects of Sinhala literature and culture for which he has also won State Literature awards.
Prof Ariyaratne shot to fame as a director with his second film ‘Sarungale’ (1979) and has, in a film career spanning 34 years, directed 19 films, many of which have been highly acclaimed and awardwinning. He was responsible for the dialogues of the Dr. Lester James Peiris’ (1976) film ‘Madol Duwa’ In the absence of a national cinema archives, in 2011, Prof Ariyaratne published a rare collection of stills (200 in all) from all of Dr Peries’ films (18 in all) with great archival value in the best interest of future generations. Twice recipient of the Signis International award for outstanding original score for a feature film (‘05 and ‘08), Lakshman Joseph de Saram is a professional classical musician and film composer based in Sri Lanka. Schooled in New York City as a classical violinist, and a veteran of over 800 concerts, he is however best known as the composer who defined the “Nouvelle Vague” sound of South Asian art-house cinema the ground breaking scores to many international award-winning films.
His recently concluded original score for the StudioCanal / Magnolia Pictures star-studded film, “Bel Ami” (2012), makes him one of a few Asian born creative heads operating on that elite platform. He is also the Artistic Director of one of Sri Lanka’s most critically acclaimed arts organisations, the Chamber Music Society of Colombo. Revered as one of the Asian greats, Lester James Peries has won continuous international acclaim in several parts of the world. With 50 productive years, 20 full length feature films, teleserials, countless retrospectives around the world, bouquets and brick- bats, national and international honours.
The accolades poured in, ever since Sumitra Peries’ directorial debut ‘Gehenu Lamai’ stormed the cinematic world in 1978, winning rave reviews and great international acclaim. Renowned as a film maker with a keen aesthetic sensibility and sensitivity which portray the feminine condition, Sumitra Peries holds a world record in cinema even to this day as being the world’s most senior woman film director still in active film making. She is currently working on her latest film ‘Vaishnavee’ (Divine Messenger), based on a story by Dr. Lester James Peries. The “Lester James Peries and Sumitra Peries Foundation” is an Approved Charity and is incorporated by an Act of Parliament. Its Trustees are Dr. Lester James Peries, Sumitra Peries, Gayathri Mustachi, Yadamini Gunawardena and Kumar de Silva. On its Board of Directors are Sameera Manabarana Randeniya, Yashodha Wimaladharma,. Yasoja Gunawardena and Nuran Gomez. Commercial Credit PLC is the Platinum Sponsor of the Foundation’s activities during 2013/14.