Sumitra Peries: Her Real Contribution
Sumitra Peries’s 90th birthday would have been on March 24. When she passed away in January 2023, she had not quite turned 88. By that time she had reached and passed the…
Moving Images
Kintsugi by Anoma: Repairing, Rebuilding and Healing a Shattered World
When a delicate object like a glass vase, ceramic bowl or porcelain cup breaks, we throw it away thinking that it is beyond repair. But in the Japanese art of kintsugi, cracks…
Remembering Richard Boyle
September 25 was the first anniversary of the death of the writer Richard Boyle at the age of 72. Richard was a prolific writer, perhaps best remembered for the multiple articles he…
Exploring the Multicultural Nature of Sri Lanka’s Artistic Heritage
The Tamil musician, Rex Periyasamy, stands as a towering figure in the Sinhala film industry, leading it to new heights with his musical compositions. In the midst of his flourishing career, Rex…
Paradise: Reading the Layered Symphony of Politics and Passion
A film can ignite the flame of wisdom within the viewer. Emerging from the shadowed theatre, they may step into the brilliance of newfound understanding. This light, a metaphor for the newly…
Shared Encounters from Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand
In a world where narratives of conflict and division dominate, the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES) offers a refreshing perspective through its latest project, Shared Encounters. This semi-academic book, along with…
Documenting and Understanding a People’s Uprising
During four months in 2022, from March to July, Sri Lanka witnessed events unprecedented in its history. Driven to despair at the state of their nation, hundreds of thousands of citizens converged…
Wind Farms : The Death of Mannar
How can the most ambitious renewable power project in Sri Lanka have this many detrimental impacts on the environment and the local communities of Mannar? Thambapawani, a derivation of the name after…
The Globalisation of Asian Cinema
Alfred Mahan, a historian, once proclaimed that whoever commands the Indian Ocean in the 21st century will have control over the world, and he also declared it to be the Asian Century….
Gaadi: An Exercise in Near Perfection
Prasanna Vithanage’s Gaadi takes place in the last year of the Kandyan Kingdom. It begins with an encounter between Ehelepola Adigar and John D’Oyly and moves on to scenes of the two…
Released at 71: the Story of Selvarathinam
The scorching heat beats down on the field. A herd of cows shelter under the trees that are scattered across the field. I went in search of Mr. Selvarathinam. His wife told…
Sumitra: Last Emissary of a Bygone Era
My Lunches with Orson is the title of a collection of interviews that Henry Jaglom, a US avant-garde filmmaker, did with Orson Welles over a period of two years (1983-1985). It is…
Brilliance and Resilience
There have been dark times in Sri Lanka in 2022. Economic anxiety and disruption of existing supply chains for the essential services of food, gasoline, petrol and electricity led to profound distress…
Capturing the Disappearing Glory of Slave Island
As elegant old buildings and diverse neighbourhoods disappear before our eyes, sacrificed on the altar of development, a group of people came together in 2018 to initiate the We Are From Here…
The Brother Who Never Came Back: 15 Years Since the Disappearance of Subramaniam Ramachandran
“Even today I believe he will return but if he doesn’t, let him remain missing. If you want to report that he disappeared on the 15th, you can do that. We would…