In a triumph for Sri Lanka’s film heritage, Sumitra Peries’ “Gehenu Lamai” (1978) restored by Film Heritage Foundation in association with the Lester James Peries and Sumitra Peries Foundation has been selected for a world premiere at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival 2025.
The film has been restored under the aegis of FISCH: France- India – Sri Lanka Cine Heritage – Saving Film Across Borders – a pioneering international collaboration between Film Heritage Foundation, the Embassy of France and the French Institute in India and the Embassy of France in Sri Lanka and the Maldives, dedicated to restoring and preserving cinematic heritage.
The selection of “Gehenu Lamai” for the 78th Cannes Film Festival marks the fourth year in a row that Film Heritage Foundation is returning to Cannes Classic, but its first with a Sri Lankan film. Film Heritage Foundation’s earlier restorations – Aravindan Govindan’s “Thamp”, Aribam Syam Sharma’s “Ishanou” and Shyam Benegal’s “Manthan” had red-carpet world premieres at the Cannes Film Festival in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Recognized as the Outstanding Film of the Year at the 1978 London Film Festival, the debut film of Sumitra Peries – referred to as the Poetess of Sri Lankan Cinema – tells the heartbreaking tale of two young sisters in a Sri Lankan village whose romantic dreams and aspirations are crushed by the class barrier and the conflict between tradition and progress. The poetic black and white imagery beautifully captures the confusion and fragility of adolescent love and yearning coupled with an outstanding performance by a 16 year-old Vasanthi Chathurani as Kusum in her debut role.
Rave reviews at the time of its release
“Spare and restrained, with shimmering black-and-white images, the film is a rarity, maybe unique, as a work of a wholly feminine sensibility . . .” – David Robinson, London Times.
“Handled more elegantly than tragically in long peaceful scenes accentuated by artistic but unobtrusive photography which strengthens the basic mood of the film, these haunting images linger long after the film is over. Peries has set her theme in that borderland where traditional values are in conflict with modern forces.
A lyrical film with an abundance of beautifully composed images where nevertheless the finger lies exactly on the wound, that painful area of living where tradition is in conflict with progress in the East.”
-Rhein Neckar Zeitung.
The Gehenu Lamai team will be led by Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, Director, Film Heritage Foundation for the film premiere in Cannes and will include the lead actress Vasanthi Chaturani, lead actor Ajith Jinadasa, Gayathri Mustachi of the Lester James Peries and Sumitra Peries Foundation, Sunil Senevi, Hon’ble Minister of Cultural Affairs, Sri Lanka, Sudath Mahaadivulwewa, Chairman, National Film Corporation of Sri Lanka and Dammith Fonseka, actor, director and Head of the Gamini Fonseka Foundation.
SHIVENDRA SINGH DUNGARPUR
FILMMAKER, ARCHIVIST AND DIRECTOR, FILM HERITAGE FOUNDATION:
I had a very close personal relationship with Lester James Peries and Sumitra Peries. I still remember the day Sumitra Peries gave me a DVD of “Gehenu Lamai” with her handwritten notes. I watched the film and I could see why she was called the Poetess of Sri Lankan cinema. I was so moved by the poetic imagery of the film and the assured delicacy with which she handled the fragile emotions of the young actors. It was hard to believe that it was her debut film.
What concerned me at the time was the condition of the film elements and I hoped that we would be able to restore the film before it was too late. I was delighted when the opportunity arose thanks to a grant from the French Government through the French Embassy in India, the French Institute in India and the French Embassy in Sri Lanka and the Maldives, that enabled me to choose this film to be restored under the aegis of the grant. The restoration was incredibly difficult and we had to work with three different elements of the film to bring “Gehenu Lamai” back to its original glory. I only wish that Sumitra Peries was there with us to see the film.
VASANTHI CHATURANI, LEAD ACTRESS:
I am overwhelmed that “Gehenu Lamai” has been restored by Film Heritage Foundation and will be premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, 47 years after it was released. I was just 16 and studying in a convent school when Sumitra Peries selected me for the role of Kusum. Initially, I was very nervous and almost gave up, but she was so patient and she taught me to the nuances of acting and how to face the camera. The character of Kusem will stay etched in my mind forever. The film was a life-changing experience for me. I cannot think of a better tribute to pay to Sumitra Peries, one of the greatest filmmakers from Sri Lanka. I only wish she could have been in Cannes to see her film come back to life on such an amazing platform. Film Heritage Foundation should be commended for their commitment over the years in building a movement for film preservation in Sri Lanka and for putting Sri Lanka’s film heritage on the world map.
AJITH JINADASA, LEAD ACTOR:
During the 1970s, it was rare to see women directing films, and Mrs. Sumitra Peries stood out as a visionary.
I often reflect on how pivotal Gehenu Lamai was in my life. If Mrs. Sumitra Peries had not chosen me for the role of Nimal, I might have faded away as a one-hit-wonder child actor. That film gave me a second life in cinema, and for that, I am forever grateful.
The relationship between Nimal, the character I played, and Kusum, portrayed so beautifully by Vasanthi Chathurani, was innocent, pure, and without conflict from others—yet, it could not survive the rigid social norms of the time. The film left many heartbroken. Even today, 47 years later, fans still ask me, often emotionally, why I abandoned Kusum. Their anger and passion speak volumes about how deeply the story touched people.
Gehenu Lamai resonates across generations and borders, perhaps because no other love story of that era so truthfully portrayed the silent battles fought within society and within oneself.
It is an immense honour to witness the restoration of Gahanu Lamai and to be part of its celebration at one of the world’s most prestigious film festivals. My heartfelt thanks goes to Film Heritage Foundation for their dedication in preserving this important piece of Sri Lankan cinematic history and to the French Government for supporting the restoration. This film deserves to live on—not just for nostalgia, but for future generations to understand the soul of our storytelling.
GAYATHRI MUSTACHI,
CHAIRPERSON, LESTER JAMES PERIES AND SUMITRA PERIES FOUNDATION:
As the Chairperson of the Lester James Peries and Sumitra Peries Foundation, and the niece of both Sumitra and Lester James Peries—two visionaries who shaped the soul of our national cinema, it is an incredibly moving moment for me personally to stand witness to the world premiere of restored ‘Gehenu Lamai’. This film, directed by the trailblazing Sumitra Peries, is not only a landmark in Sri Lankan cinema but also a powerful, compassionate portrayal of womanhood that continues to resonate across generations.
Film Heritage Foundation has done incredible work on the restoration and I would like to thank them for selecting this film for restoration in association with our Foundation and under the aegis of FISCH (France–India–Sri Lanka Cine Heritage – Saving Film Across Borders). This restoration is an act of cultural preservation. It ensures that Sumitra’s quiet strength, poetic eye, and progressive spirit will once again touch audiences around the world.
MR. RÉMI LAMBERT, AMBASSADOR OF FRANCE TO SRI LANKA:
“In choosing to restore Gehenu Lamai, directorial debut of Sumitra Peries, we sought not only to safeguard a cornerstone of Sri Lanka’s film history, but also to bring a masterpiece of women’s storytelling back into the light. The choice felt like an obvious one: what stronger symbol than to restore such an essential cinematic landmark which showcases Sri Lanka women’s cultural heritage, all the more so as it was directed by an artist who was, quite literally, an ambassador of Franco–Sri Lankan relations.
France is honored to stand alongside Sri Lanka in keeping its rich cinematic heritage alive. This lies at the very heart of our cultural commitment: preserving the arts and their memory. A film is made to be seen; not to sleep on reels, but to live on screen. The spotlight on Sri Lankan cinema at Cannes this year is a profound source of pride, but we also hope to see Gehenu Lamai return to Sri Lankan silver screen soon, where it can resonate once more in the hearts for which it was first created.”
THE RESTORATION PROCESS
The germ of the idea to restore “Gehenu Lamai” began in 2018 when Shivendra Singh Dungarpur along with members of FIAF travelled to Colombo for a Rescue Mission and visited all the film storage spaces: the NFC Headquarters, the National Archives, the government film archive and the NFC Film Archive at the Sarasavi Studios. They were faced with a collection of about 30,000 film reels that were in a poor condition and stored in appalling conditions. The plan over the course of five days, was to work through the essential steps in dealing with an almost overwhelming quantity of film in various stages of decomposition, half of it stored in appalling conditions. In addition, David, Mick and Shivendra planned to cover the very basic steps of separating films wholly beyond rescue from those potentially salvageable and offer advice on equipment, storage, digitisation, and preservation strategies.
At the time, Shivendra Singh Dungarpur met Lester James Peries and Sumitra Peries in Colombo and Sumitra Peries discussed the possibility of restoring some of her films with him. She also gave him DVDs of some of her films with handwritten notes about which ones she would like restored, which included her debut film “Gehenu Lamai”.
But it was only six years later, thanks to a grant under the aegis of the international collaboration FISCH – France – India – Sri Lanka Cine Heritage – Saving Film Across Borders – that the funding for the restoration became possible and Film Heritage Foundation could take up the restoration in association with the Lester James Peries and Sumitra Peries Foundation.
Fortunately there were surviving film elements of “Gehenu Lamai” preserved at the National Film Corporation of Sri Lanka – a 35 mm combined dupe negative and two first generation 35 mm release prints, that were shipped to L’Immagine Ritrovata, the film restoration lab in Bologna.
On inspection at the Film Heritage Foundation archive and at the lab in Bologna, the conservators discovered that the condition of the reels varied from average to poor to critical with several reels exhibiting tears, broken sprockets, blockage, shrinkage, emulsion damage, buckling and warping. Several hours were spent on the film repair – repairing damaged perforations and tears and redoing tape splices to prepare it for scanning which was done in 4K.
In the film comparison stage, the lab found that one of the positives was the vintage release of the Sri Lankan version that had additional shots and this positive was used as a guide for the restored version. Although second generation, the dupe negative had the best photographic quality, but had embedded subtitles. The lower photographic contrast of the dupe negative allowed us to recover more details and hence it was used as a main element for restoration. Hours of work went into the digital restoration to correct distortions and recover the image as faithfully as possible.
The sound restoration was particularly challenging. The quality of the sound was generally low and varied with issues such as click and crackle noises and hiss present across all reels, physical gaps, damaged optical sound tracks that rendered the sound inaudible in parts, high electrical noise and distortion.
RESTORATION CREDITS
Restored by Film Heritage Foundation at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in association with the Lester James Peries and Sumitra Peries Foundation.
Funding provided by a grant under the aegis of FISCH: France- India – Sri Lanka Cine Heritage – Saving Film Across Borders.
Gehenu Lamai was restored using the best surviving elements: the 35 mm combined dupe negative and two 35 mm release prints preserved at the National Film Corporation of Sri Lanka.
The condition of the three elements had deteriorated with tears, broken sprockets, heavy warping, emulsion damage and shrinkage that also impacted the quality of the sound, besides which the combined dupe negative had embedded subtitles.
The film was reconstructed and restored using the best portions from each element.
CAST AND CREW DETAILS
Gehenu Lamai (The Girls), Sri Lanka, 1978, Sumitra Peries
110 mins, Black & White, Sinhala, English Subtitles, Aspect Ratio 1.37:1
Direction and Screenplay: Sumitra Peries, Original Story by: Karunasena Jayalath, Cinematographer: M. S. Ananda, Editor: Sumitra Peries, Music: Nimal Mendis, Producer: Lester James Peries, Production House: Lester James Peries Production
Cast: Vasanthi Chathurani, Ajith Jinadasa, Jenitha Samaraweera, Shyama Ananda, Trilicia Gunawardena, Chitra Wakishta, Senaka Perera, Nimal Dayaratne, Dayamanthi Pattiarachchi and Joe Abeywickrema
SYNOPSIS
Set in rural Sri Lanka, Sumitra Peries’ debut film is a delicate, poetic film that tells the heartbreaking tale of two sisters whose dreams and aspirations come to nought in the face of insurmountable class barriers. Kusum, a dutiful girl falls in love with Nimal, an upper class boy, in whose house she works. Nimal’s mother is outraged when she finds out about the relationship as Kusum belongs to a lower class and sacks her, leading to Kusum breaking off all contact with Nimal. Her happy-go-lucky sister Soma’s dreams of becoming a beauty queen are shattered when she becomes pregnant and has an illegitimate child. The dreamy black-and-white imagery is a lyrical exploration of the end of innocence and romantic dreams of two young girls crushed by the heavy hand of tradition, morality and patriarchy.
ABOUT SUMITRA PERIES – THE POETESS OF SRI LANKAN CINEMA
Accomplished film editor, filmmaker, film producer and diplomat, Sumitra Peries was a woman of many parts and a pre-eminent figure in the world of Sri Lankan cinema.
She was born Sumitra Gunawardena on 24 March 1935 in a village some 30 miles from Colombo. Her mother hailed from a family of affluent arrack distillers, and her father belonged to a household of radical political activists. Just before she turned 21, she boarded a ship to the Mediterranean to meet her brother and they drove to Malta where he had anchored a yacht. They proceeded to live a bohemian existence dropping anchor in ports across the Mediterranean and meeting interesting people including Roger Vadim and Brigitte Bardot. After her brother returned to Sri Lanka, she met her future husband, the legendary Sri Lankan filmmaker Lester James Peries, at the Ceylon Legation in Paris. Lester advised Sumitra to leave for England where she enrolled at the London School of Film Technique (LSFT) in Brixton, where she was the sole female student in a class of mostly white, middle-class males. She returned to Sri Lanka, where she worked as an assistant director on Lester’s 1960 film Sandesaya (The Message). Four years later, they were married.
After working her way up in the industry as an editor, including on a few of her husband’s films, Sumitra directed Gehenu Lamai, which became a resounding success, at home and abroad.Its success emboldened her to make nine more films, all of them centring on female protagonists: Ganga Addara (By the Bank of the River, 1980), Yahalu Yeheli (Friends, 1982), Maya (1984), Sagara Jalaya Madi Handuwa Oba Sanda (A Letter Written in the Sand, 1988), Loku Duwa (The Eldest Daughter, 1994), Duwata Mawaka Misa (Mother Alone, 1997), Sakman Maluwa (The Garden, 2003), Yahaluwo (Friends, 2007) and Vaishnavee (The Goddess, 2017).
In addition to her work in film, she also served in a number of official and academic posts, before departing for Paris as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary for France and Spain from 1995 to 1998.
Sumitra Peries died on January 19, 2023 at the age of 87.
