Launch of the Lester James Peries and Sumitra Peries Foundation:

Preserving cinematic legacy for posterity

By Ranga CHANDRARATHNE

The Lester James Peries and Sumithra Peries Foundation, was launched recently in a simple but dignified ceremony at the BMICH. The ceremony commenced with the welcome address by Trustee Yadamini Gunawardena ( Minister Dinesh Gunadardena’s son) outlining the objective of the Foundation.

Apart from preserving the cinematic legacy of the doyen of Sri Lankan cinema Dr. Lester James Peries and pioneer woman filmmaker and one time Sri Lankan Ambassador in France Sumithra Peries, one of the cardinal objectives of the foundation is to set up a ‘National Cinema Archives’ in Sri Lanka with the aim of preserving Sri Lanka’s cinematic legacy for the future generation. Among the objectives are the promoting the art of filmmaking and Children’s Cinema in Sri Lanka.

A message by President Mahinda Rajapaksa passing on good wishes to Dr. Lester James Peries and Sumithra Peries and the Foundation was read out by Ravindra Randeniya. The foundation’s official website WWW. ljpfoundation.org was officially launched by Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa. The Foundation was incorporated by an Act of Parliament and the proposal for the Bill was made by Malini Fonseka and was seconded by J.R.P Sooriyapperuma.

Indian filmmaker Padma Vibushan Dr. Adoor Gopalakrishnan, who is an admirer of Dr. Lester James Peries and Sumithra Peries cinema, described Dr. Lester James Peries as “a remarkable filmmaker – one of the greatest living filmmakers in the world today"

In his remarks, Dr. Adoor Gopalakrishnan, stressed the need to set up a ‘National Cinema Archives’ describing that "Both our countries are blessed with humidity and heat which are the real enemies of films".

Dr. Lester James Peries oration

The focal point of the launch was the inaugural Dr.Lester James Peries oration which was delivered by Prof. Wimal Dissanayake of the University of Hawaii. In the oration, Prof. Wimal Dissanayake observed ,“Lester James Peries is unquestionably the greatest filmmaker that Sri Lanka has produced. He is also among the greatest of Asian filmmakers. His work can be approached profitably from diverse conceptual vantage points . In this talk, my chosen conceptual vantage point that if the social imaginary which opens a useful theoretical space for film analysis.

Sumithra Peries

The first Sinhala film ‘Broken Promise’ was made in 1947. This film, directed by B.A.W. Jayamanne., was based in a stage play, had a great impact on Sinhala audiences. He went on to direct a number of other films that were based on stage plays. During the 64 years of its existence, Sri Lankan cinema had made appreciable progress; it has had its ups and downs.The recently concluded ethnic war, which lasted for about three decades, severely and adversely impacted the local film industry. Despite this, a number of Sri Lankan filmmakers went on to make films that have won international acclaim. Among these filmmakers Lester James Peries is the foremost; he is the doyen of Sri Lankan film directors. He has received the highest honours bestowed on film directors in India, France and Sri Lanka. Apart from Peries there are other talented filmmakers such as Vasantha Obeyesekere, Dharmasena Pathiraja, Sumithra Peries, Prasanna Vithanage, Asoka Handagama, Vimukthi Jayasundera….”

One of the principal cultural theoretical theses that Prof. Dissanayake who is an international expert on Asian Cinema, invoked was cultural modernity. He pointed out that cinema served as both a ‘reflector and shaper of cultural modernity. “As we examine the growth of cinema in Sri Lanka, one fact that emerges clearly is that from its very inception it was associated with the question of cultural modernity. Cinema is both a reflector and shaper of cultural modernity in the island. During the four stages of expansion Sri Lankan cinema manifested different interests and investments in confronting cultural modernity.

Before we discuss how cultural modernity was captured in films, it is important to describe what is meant by this term. Modernity signifies not only cognitively understood categories such as science and rationality but also values like secularism, individual freedom and a sense of equality.

The way tradition inhabits modernity has to be teased out carefully because the easy binary of tradition and modernity as polar opposites is not borne out by the facts. Max Weber articulated the view that a defining trait of modernity is the important emphasis placed on choice as an aspect of one’s individuality. What is evident now is that the question of choice is far more complex than Weber believed.

Social theorists saw modernization as a neo-evolutionary narrative which pointed to a universal path that led to social development (Weber,1947).. It was their firm conviction that there was only one pathway towards modernity and it was the one that was traversed by Europeans. However, the experience of developing societies has proved otherwise. What has firmly being established is that there are many modernities, and the velocity of the modernization process varies considerably according to the culture of the society concerned. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that we talk in terms of cultural modernities rather than discuss it as a monolithic term with unambiguous meanings. This idea of cultural modernity is important because it is precisely what we see in Sri Lankan films.

In the first phase of Sri Lankan cinema, questions of subjectivity, clash between the individual and collectivity, which are marks of modernisation were presented in culture-specific terms, often very crudely. The second stage witnessed the spread of urban consciousness, secularism, and scientific rationality as they impinged the local culture. In the third stage, ideas of socialism, youth unrest, problems of unemployment, alienation of youth, which were all inevitable concomitants of the modernisation process, found cultural expression. In the fourth phase, the ferocity of the ethnic conflict and its impact on, and implications for, the state, civil society, rule of law and so on began to be explored in terms of the vocabulary of local culture. Therefore, it can legitimately said that during the fur sages of development of Sri Lankan cinema, the idea of cultural modernity figured very prominently. “

Citing Dr. Lester James Peries's trilogy of films Gamperaliya ( The 'Changing Village,') Kaliyugaya ( 'The Age of Kali') and Yugantaya ('The End of an Era') , Prof. Dissanayake pointed that the person who made the important conjunction between cultural modernity and social imaginary was Dr. Lester James Peries. " .. a significant moment in the history of Sri Lankan cinema, this idea of cultural modernity intersected with the notion of the social imaginary in interesting ways.

Dr. Lester James Peries, Dr. Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Prof. Wimal Dissanayke at the launch

This marks an important moment. The person responsible for the conjunction is Lester James Peries. His trilogy of films The 'Changing Village,' 'The Age of Kali' and 'The End of an Era', based on three highly acclaimed novels by the foremost Sinhala novelist, Martin Wickremasinghe. precipitated this moment. With 'Line of Destiny', Peries inaugurated the art cinema in Sri Lanka; it constituted a formidable challenge to the existing and bemused film culture, such as it was. However, it is with 'The Changing Village' (Gamperaliya) that he found a perfect concordance between the chosen experience and the desired supple form leading to a cogent lyrical poise.

While 'The Line of Destiny 'represented, in terms of cinematic art, a bold attempt to transcend the formula-guided cinema that was prevalent at the time, the experience itself did not carry complete conviction for me as some one who was born and bred in a remote village ( similar to the one depicted in the film); things did not quite add up. However, with the production of 'The Changing Village' (Gamperaliya), 'The Age Of Kali' (Kaliyugaya) and The End of an Era' (Yuganthaya,) Lester James Peries was able to fashion a cinema that was experientially authentic, that carried the requisite social density and cultural modulation of meaning and that carved out a concomitant cinematic poetics and representational strategies for achieving his artistic ambitions. While Nidhanaya, (TheTreasure) in my judgment, is Peries' most accomplished work in terms of willed cinematic art, and Wekanda Walauwa (Mansion by the Lake) is replete with Chekhovian visual symbolism, in this short essay I wish to focus on The 'Changing Village', 'The Age of Kali' and 'The End of an Era', made in 1963,1983, 1985, respectively as representing Peries' first measured attempt to explore the indigenous social imaginary in terms of cinematography.; his cinematic fingerprints are unmistakably present in these works.

Indeed, it was 'The Changing Village' that captured most powerfully the birth of this moment. In response to these films, Peries found, what most conscientious filmmakers are incessantly looking for - the supreme spectator with discernment.

The term social imaginary has been put into wide academic circulation by the eminent philosopher Charles Taylor.(Taylor 2004). This is indeed a concept that I have deployed productively in some of my books on cinema. As Taylor remarked, the concept of the social imaginary encompasses something much wider and deeper than analytical schemes and intellectual categories that scholars are in the habit of pressing into service in there investigations.

He calls attention to the 'ways in which they (people) imagine their social existence, how they fit together with others, how things go on between them and their fellows, the expectations which are normally met, and the deeper normative notions and images which underlie these expectations.' Here, it is evident, that Taylor is focusing very insistently on the existential and experiential dimensions of social living. "

In the final analysis of Dr. Lester James Peries' cinema, Prof. Dissanayake drew home the point that 'realism' for Dr. Peries is not a mere 'mimetic reflectionism' but 'a poetic recreation and cinematic re-coding', "Lester James Peries' attempt to capture the social imaginary of Sri Lanka is that it is buttressed by his deep conviction of the efficacy of cinematic realism and the importance of humanism as a functional creed.

Realism, for him, is not merely a form of mimetic reflectionism but a poetic re-creation, cinematic re-coding, of social reality where the locus of meaning shifts to history and its inflections of human lives. What Peries has sought to re-create in this trilogy of films is not raw verisimilitude but poetic verisimilitude.

Peries, in my judgment, sought to go beyond the kind of realism valorized by film theorists such as Andre Bazin, (Bazin, 1967) who urged the importance of films as a neutral medium for recording natural and cultural phenomena and viewed with great suspicion on the efforts if a filmmaker at authorial intervention. Lester James Peries, on the other hand, while recognizing the importance of verisimilitude also underlined the significance of codes and conventions, both cinematic and cultural, and the creative powers of the filmmaker in modulating reality and giving it a sharper definition. The eminent film critic, Siegfried Kracauer (1960) once remarked that, 'the cinema can be defined as a medium particularly equipped to promote the redemption of physical reality.'

Sumithra Peries

This is precisely what Peries intended to do. He wanted his created cinematic images to be true to Sri Lankan life and society; at the same time, he wanted them to shine with a modulated lyricism. Similarly, humanism, in his judgment, is not merely a mind-set but also a mode of feeling and a part of his representational arsenal. His decision to select three critically acclaimed Sinhala novels for cinematic representation, his poetic lyricism, and sensitivity to indigenous cultures on the move enable him to create three works of cinematic art that resonated with the social imaginary of the people. "

Dr. Lester James Peries as a pioneer filmmaker

The launch of the Dr. Lester James Peries and Sumithra Peries also marked the Diamond Jubilee of winning the first-ever international award in 1951. It was 'The Mioni Cinema Challenge Cup' presented to Dr. Lester James Peries by the British Government for 'Soliloquy'. The launching of foundation also marked a half a century for Sumithra Peries's brilliant career in cinema. She joined Dr. Lester James Peries in 'Sandeshaya' as an assistant director.

Looking back on Dr. Lester James Peries's trailblazing career in Sinhala cinema and the evolution of Sinhala cinema from studio-shot formula films to artistic films of international repute, what is obvious is that it is Dr. Peries's pioneering attempt with the production of Rekawa that altered the course of Sinhala cinema. 'Gamperaliya' (Change in the Village -1964) which has recently been restored is still appreciated worldwide by diverse audiences. It is one of the instances where a cinematic masterpiece was made based on a classic Sri Lankan novel by Martin Wickramasinghe. Gamperaliya as a restores classic is considered as one of the ten best films of the twentieth century.

'Nidhanaya', (The Treasure),a brilliant cinematic exploration into the human psyche is not only a superb cinematic analysis of human psyche but also a masterpiece of Sinhala cinema, marked for its mature cinematic diction which is peerless in the annals of Sri Lankan cinema.

A significant facet of Dr. Peries's career in cinema is the sheer diversity of his creations; 'Gamperaliya' is recognised for its non-dramatic and realistic depiction of the village, 'Madol Duwa' (The Enchanted Island -1976) may be evaluated for capturing the lives of youthful escapade in a Southern coastal village. A living legend, Dr. Lester James Peries is the only Sri Lankan filmmaker, who belongs to a generation of legendary filmmakers such as Akira Kurasawa, Satyajith Ray, Ingmar Bergman.

Sumitra as a pioneering woman filmmaker

Sumitra Peries is the path breaking Sri Lankan woman filmmaker who paved way for the entry of women breaking the monopoly of then male dominated Sinhalese cinema.

Looking at her remarkable career in cinema which bequeathed the nation a corpus of creations including Gehenu Lamai (1977), Ganga Adara ( 1980), Yahalu Yeheli (1982), Maya (1984), Sagara Jalaya ( 1988) , Loku Duwa ( 1996), Duwata Mawak Misa ( 1997- based on novel by G.B Senanayake) and Sakman Maluwa ( 2003- based on a short story by Godfery Gunatilake), Sumitra Peries stands out as a Sri Lankan filmmaker who realistically depicted the Sri Lankan woman from diverse aspects.

The character of woman portrayed in her films is not a prototype or stereotype woman often valarised by cultural puritans but the one who plays a dynamic and significant role in life as a mother. For instance, in her film Duwata Mawak Misa, Sumitra portrays the close relationship between a mother and a daughter not only in Sri Lanka but also in any Asian society.

Feminist issues

What is noteworthy is that her approach to dealing with feminist issues is neither sympathetic nor clinical but a realistic one.

Her maturity in the craft was amply demonstrated in Yahaluwo (Best friends) in 2007. The film was made at the tail end of the conflict and masterly depicts the dynamics of ethnic relationships among diverse ethnicities in Sri Lanka through the eyes of a child of mix parentage. Yahaluwo is so far the most sensible cinematic exploration of diverse ethnic relations in Sri Lankan polity as the sub-text of the film. At the same time, it is also a children's film.

Study and exposure

A scene from Gamparaliya

One factor which makes Sumitra Peries is her deep understanding, vast knowledge and experience in the field of cinema. It was in 1950s that she studied film making at the London School of Film Technique and earned a Diploma in Film Direction and Production (1957-1959). Significantly she was the only woman student at the time and began working at Mai Harris, a subtitling firm for a short spell.

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.

Apart from serving the nation in diverse capacities such being a member of the Presidential Commission for two years to conduct an inquiry into Sri Lanka's film sector, a member of the Board of Management of the Institute of Aesthetique Studies, Kelaniya University, Sri Lanka, Sumitra Peries was the Sri Lanka's Ambassador to France. She won the award for the best film director in fifty (50) years of Sri Lankan cinema.