The late Govindan Aravindan’s 1978 masterpiece “Thamp̄” (“The Circus Tent”) is one of two Indian films at this year’s Cannes Classics selection, alongside Satyajit Ray’s “Pratidwandi” (“The Adversary”) from 1970.
“Thamp̄” was painstakingly restored by India’s Film Heritage Foundation (Fhf), an organization founded by filmmaker Shivendra Singh Dungarpur in 2014. Dungarpur facilitated the restoration of Uday Shankar’s landmark film “Kalpana” (1948) by Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Foundation, the restored version of which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012. He also collaborated with the World Cinema Foundation again for the restoration of the 1972 Sinhalese film “Nidhanaya” directed by eminent Sri Lankan filmmaker Lester James Peries. The restoration premiered at Venice in 2013.
The restoration of “Thamp̄” was a process that took eight months to achieve. Fhf, as a member of the International Federation of Film Archives, also put out a call to all the 171 member institutions around the world...
“Thamp̄” was painstakingly restored by India’s Film Heritage Foundation (Fhf), an organization founded by filmmaker Shivendra Singh Dungarpur in 2014. Dungarpur facilitated the restoration of Uday Shankar’s landmark film “Kalpana” (1948) by Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Foundation, the restored version of which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012. He also collaborated with the World Cinema Foundation again for the restoration of the 1972 Sinhalese film “Nidhanaya” directed by eminent Sri Lankan filmmaker Lester James Peries. The restoration premiered at Venice in 2013.
The restoration of “Thamp̄” was a process that took eight months to achieve. Fhf, as a member of the International Federation of Film Archives, also put out a call to all the 171 member institutions around the world...
- 5/25/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Sri Lankan film-maker whose work was suffused with ‘Chekhovian grace’
The Sri Lankan film-maker Lester James Peries, who has died aged 99, was, like his Indian contemporary Satyajit Ray, more highly regarded abroad than in his native country. His career was dominated by a constant struggle to obtain finance and, during 50 years directing features, he completed only 18 films. These were described by his friend and champion Lindsay Anderson as “works of Chekhovian grace”.
In 1970, I had the good fortune to programme the inaugural seasons for the National Film Theatre’s NFT2 screens, with the brief that they should reflect important yet neglected areas of cinema. Among those seasons was a modest one devoted to five features by Peries. Only a quintet but enough to convince those who saw them in London – and a little later at the Paris Cinémathèque and the New York Museum of Modern Art – that here was a director of special character,...
The Sri Lankan film-maker Lester James Peries, who has died aged 99, was, like his Indian contemporary Satyajit Ray, more highly regarded abroad than in his native country. His career was dominated by a constant struggle to obtain finance and, during 50 years directing features, he completed only 18 films. These were described by his friend and champion Lindsay Anderson as “works of Chekhovian grace”.
In 1970, I had the good fortune to programme the inaugural seasons for the National Film Theatre’s NFT2 screens, with the brief that they should reflect important yet neglected areas of cinema. Among those seasons was a modest one devoted to five features by Peries. Only a quintet but enough to convince those who saw them in London – and a little later at the Paris Cinémathèque and the New York Museum of Modern Art – that here was a director of special character,...
- 4/30/2018
- by Brian Baxter
- The Guardian - Film News
If Sri Lanka movies had for many years been mistaken with Bollywood movies because of the huge reign of imported Indian movies and the many (unofficial) local remakes, the industry has finally built its own identity and shaped one of world’s most poetic cinematographies – as proved by two Golden Cyclos in 2012 and 2013 for August Drizzle by Aruna Jayawardanaand With Your Without You by Prasanna Vithanage.
Lester James Peries (97 years), the « Father of Sri Lanka Cinema », has not only contributed to the founding of local industry after popular success of his Rekava (Line of Destiny) in 1956, but he also proved there could be a more realistic and personal approach other than the ever-repeating musical formula movies made in Bollywood.
The success of his Gamperaliya (The Changing Village) in 1963 has paved the way for a whole new generation of young and talented directors such as Sumitra Peries, Siri Gunasinghe, Mahagama Sekera,...
Lester James Peries (97 years), the « Father of Sri Lanka Cinema », has not only contributed to the founding of local industry after popular success of his Rekava (Line of Destiny) in 1956, but he also proved there could be a more realistic and personal approach other than the ever-repeating musical formula movies made in Bollywood.
The success of his Gamperaliya (The Changing Village) in 1963 has paved the way for a whole new generation of young and talented directors such as Sumitra Peries, Siri Gunasinghe, Mahagama Sekera,...
- 1/21/2017
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Mda-backed Sgiff (Dec 4-14) is part of Singapore Media Festival.
The 25th Singapore International Film Festival (Sgiff) has announced its line-up with 147 films from 50 countries. After a hiatus of two years, the Sgiff will open as part of the Singapore Media Festival, which also comprises the Asia TV Forum & Market (Atf), ScreenSingapore (SS) and Asian Television Awards (Ata).
Hosted by the Media Development Authority (Mda), the Singapore Media Festival (and Sgiff) will run Dec 4-14.
Sgiff will open with Ken Kwek’s Singaporean thriller Unlucky Plaza, which premiered in Toronto last month. Making a feature directorial debut with the film, Kwek previously was screenwriter on films such as Glen Goei’s The Blue Mansion and Kelvin Tong’s It’s A Great, Great World.
The festival will close with Lucky Kuswandi’s Indonesian film In The Absence Of The Sun. A film the follows three women in the megacity of Jakara, it is Kuswandi...
The 25th Singapore International Film Festival (Sgiff) has announced its line-up with 147 films from 50 countries. After a hiatus of two years, the Sgiff will open as part of the Singapore Media Festival, which also comprises the Asia TV Forum & Market (Atf), ScreenSingapore (SS) and Asian Television Awards (Ata).
Hosted by the Media Development Authority (Mda), the Singapore Media Festival (and Sgiff) will run Dec 4-14.
Sgiff will open with Ken Kwek’s Singaporean thriller Unlucky Plaza, which premiered in Toronto last month. Making a feature directorial debut with the film, Kwek previously was screenwriter on films such as Glen Goei’s The Blue Mansion and Kelvin Tong’s It’s A Great, Great World.
The festival will close with Lucky Kuswandi’s Indonesian film In The Absence Of The Sun. A film the follows three women in the megacity of Jakara, it is Kuswandi...
- 10/28/2014
- by hjnoh2007@gmail.com (Jean Noh)
- ScreenDaily
Unlucky Plaza to open festival; 147 films from 50 countries.
The 25th Singapore International Film Festival (Sgiff) has announced its line-up with 147 films from 50 countries.
After a hiatus of two years, the Sgiff will open as part of the Singapore Media Festival, which also comprises the Asia TV Forum & Market (Atf), ScreenSingapore (SS) and Asian Television Awards (Ata).
Hosted by the Media Development Authority (Mda), the Singapore Media Festival (and Sgiff) will run Dec 4-14.
Sgiff will open with Ken Kwek’s Singaporean thriller Unlucky Plaza, which premiered in Toronto last month. Making a feature directorial debut with the film, Kwek previously was screenwriter on films such as Glen Goei’s The Blue Mansion and Kelvin Tong’s It’s A Great, Great World.
The fest will close with Lucky Kuswandi’s Indonesian film In The Absence Of The Sun. The film the follows three women in the megacity of Jakara, it is Kuswandi’s second feature after [link=tt...
The 25th Singapore International Film Festival (Sgiff) has announced its line-up with 147 films from 50 countries.
After a hiatus of two years, the Sgiff will open as part of the Singapore Media Festival, which also comprises the Asia TV Forum & Market (Atf), ScreenSingapore (SS) and Asian Television Awards (Ata).
Hosted by the Media Development Authority (Mda), the Singapore Media Festival (and Sgiff) will run Dec 4-14.
Sgiff will open with Ken Kwek’s Singaporean thriller Unlucky Plaza, which premiered in Toronto last month. Making a feature directorial debut with the film, Kwek previously was screenwriter on films such as Glen Goei’s The Blue Mansion and Kelvin Tong’s It’s A Great, Great World.
The fest will close with Lucky Kuswandi’s Indonesian film In The Absence Of The Sun. The film the follows three women in the megacity of Jakara, it is Kuswandi’s second feature after [link=tt...
- 10/28/2014
- by hjnoh2007@gmail.com (Jean Noh)
- ScreenDaily
The International Council for Film, Television and Audiovisual Communication (Icft) recently presented at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) headquarters in Paris the Unesco Fellini Medal to Jasmina Bojic, Founder and Executive Director of the United Nations Association Film Festival (Unaff), in recognition of her exceptional contribution in promoting the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights through the art of documentary film.
The Federico Fellini Medal was created by Unesco in 1994 to recognize major contributions to the international film heritage, its promotion and preservation.
The first Fellini Medal was awarded to the President of the Cannes Film Festival, Pierre Voit, and over the years it had many distinctive recipients, among them Gerard Depardieu, Vanessa Redgrave, Clint Eastwood, Abbas Kiarostami, Im Kwon taek, Lester James Peries, Pierre Rissient and Jerome Clement, President of the Franco-German TV channel Arte.
The medal itself was designed in 1994 by the Italian artist Valerio Adami, as homage to the Italian Maestro Federico Fellini, who passed away the year before. Unesco's Fellini Medal was first presented at the 48th Cannes Film Festival (1994), which was also the occasion of the Centenary of the creation of cinema.
Jasmina Bojic, who is also a film critic and educator at Stanford University, was informed of the award in April during the InfoPoverty Conference at the Un in New York, while the Fellini Medal was officially presented to her in May at the Unesco headquarters in Paris.
Presenting the award, the Icft stated, "Over the years Unaff has become a highly regarded platform for intrepid documentaries with a stellar reputation with filmmakers and audiences alike. Through the "Camera As Witness" program, which Ms. Bojic created at Stanford University, Unaff and its films have become an invaluable tool in the education process as well.
"For the last 15 years Unaff has also offered a Traveling Film Festival, which has spread the reach of its documentary films through dozens of communities, cooperating with other Festivals, Universities and Organizations.
"The four films presented at the Unaff Traveling Film Festival during the Un InfoPoverty Conference in New York are of the highest quality, both from the point of view of content and of cinematographic aesthetic. In addition, there is a concurrence between the Unaff and the Icft's objectives as well as Unesco's mandate in this field.
"It is a real lesson to the media, and the Icft wishes to develop this vision of a world that is more and more essential for intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding.
"The Icft hopes that the Unaff will continue to develop this line of action and to be recognized in the world that has an ever greater need for moral values"...
The Federico Fellini Medal was created by Unesco in 1994 to recognize major contributions to the international film heritage, its promotion and preservation.
The first Fellini Medal was awarded to the President of the Cannes Film Festival, Pierre Voit, and over the years it had many distinctive recipients, among them Gerard Depardieu, Vanessa Redgrave, Clint Eastwood, Abbas Kiarostami, Im Kwon taek, Lester James Peries, Pierre Rissient and Jerome Clement, President of the Franco-German TV channel Arte.
The medal itself was designed in 1994 by the Italian artist Valerio Adami, as homage to the Italian Maestro Federico Fellini, who passed away the year before. Unesco's Fellini Medal was first presented at the 48th Cannes Film Festival (1994), which was also the occasion of the Centenary of the creation of cinema.
Jasmina Bojic, who is also a film critic and educator at Stanford University, was informed of the award in April during the InfoPoverty Conference at the Un in New York, while the Fellini Medal was officially presented to her in May at the Unesco headquarters in Paris.
Presenting the award, the Icft stated, "Over the years Unaff has become a highly regarded platform for intrepid documentaries with a stellar reputation with filmmakers and audiences alike. Through the "Camera As Witness" program, which Ms. Bojic created at Stanford University, Unaff and its films have become an invaluable tool in the education process as well.
"For the last 15 years Unaff has also offered a Traveling Film Festival, which has spread the reach of its documentary films through dozens of communities, cooperating with other Festivals, Universities and Organizations.
"The four films presented at the Unaff Traveling Film Festival during the Un InfoPoverty Conference in New York are of the highest quality, both from the point of view of content and of cinematographic aesthetic. In addition, there is a concurrence between the Unaff and the Icft's objectives as well as Unesco's mandate in this field.
"It is a real lesson to the media, and the Icft wishes to develop this vision of a world that is more and more essential for intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding.
"The Icft hopes that the Unaff will continue to develop this line of action and to be recognized in the world that has an ever greater need for moral values"...
- 6/17/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The 2nd edition of The Inner Path, a festival on Buddhism, will be held from September 6 – 10 at Iccr, Azad Bhawan, New Delhi.
Organised by Netpac India in association with the Asoka Mission, the festival celebrates Buddhism through films, art and philosophy.
Kim Ki Duk’s Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… And Spring, David Grubin’s The Buddha and Acha Dayal’s Land Of Buddha are some of the films to be screened during the five day festival.
For more information write to innerpath@netpacasia.org or netpacindia@gmail.com
For schedule, click here
Full list of films:
Alms
Director: Edward A. Burger
Angin (An Essence Of Wind)
Director: Winaldo Artaraya Swastia
Buddhism In Europe Part 2
Director: Beomsu Kim
Cave In The Snow
Director: Liz Thompson
Impermanence
Director: Goutam Ghose
Kanzeon
Director: Tim Grabham, Neil Cantwell
Karma
Director: Tsering Rhitar Sherpa
Land Of Buddha
Director: Abha Dayal
Milarepa.
Director: Liliana Cavani
Plum...
Organised by Netpac India in association with the Asoka Mission, the festival celebrates Buddhism through films, art and philosophy.
Kim Ki Duk’s Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… And Spring, David Grubin’s The Buddha and Acha Dayal’s Land Of Buddha are some of the films to be screened during the five day festival.
For more information write to innerpath@netpacasia.org or netpacindia@gmail.com
For schedule, click here
Full list of films:
Alms
Director: Edward A. Burger
Angin (An Essence Of Wind)
Director: Winaldo Artaraya Swastia
Buddhism In Europe Part 2
Director: Beomsu Kim
Cave In The Snow
Director: Liz Thompson
Impermanence
Director: Goutam Ghose
Kanzeon
Director: Tim Grabham, Neil Cantwell
Karma
Director: Tsering Rhitar Sherpa
Land Of Buddha
Director: Abha Dayal
Milarepa.
Director: Liliana Cavani
Plum...
- 9/2/2013
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
Following the announcement that came earlier this week, launching yet another hugely impressive line-up at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, the respective line-up has now been announced for what is in some ways its European counterpart, the 2013 Venice Film Festival.
The announcement shows that the two will continue to have a number of films overlapping, including Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity (the Opening Night Film in Venice), Peter Landesman’s Parkland, Stephen Frears’ Philomena, and more. But it also brings with its news of where a number of films will be making their debut, including Terry Gilliam’s The Zero Theorem; the latest film from Hayao Miyazaki, The Wind Rises; James Franco’s Child of God; Lee Sang-il’s Yurusarezaru Mono, the Japanese remake of Unforgiven; and Steven Knight’s Locke, led by Tom Hardy, and shot in one take.
In Competition
Es-Stouh – Merzak Alloucache (Algeria, France, 94’) L’Intrepido – Gianni Amelio (Italy,...
The announcement shows that the two will continue to have a number of films overlapping, including Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity (the Opening Night Film in Venice), Peter Landesman’s Parkland, Stephen Frears’ Philomena, and more. But it also brings with its news of where a number of films will be making their debut, including Terry Gilliam’s The Zero Theorem; the latest film from Hayao Miyazaki, The Wind Rises; James Franco’s Child of God; Lee Sang-il’s Yurusarezaru Mono, the Japanese remake of Unforgiven; and Steven Knight’s Locke, led by Tom Hardy, and shot in one take.
In Competition
Es-Stouh – Merzak Alloucache (Algeria, France, 94’) L’Intrepido – Gianni Amelio (Italy,...
- 7/26/2013
- by Kenji Lloyd
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Italian actress Claudia Cardinale to be guest host for the section at the 70th Venice International Film Festival where William Friedkin will receive a lifetime achievement honour.
Claudia Cardinale, best known for roles in Once Upon a Time in the West and Fellini’s 8 ½, is to be the guest host of Venezia Classici, the section devoted to restored films and to documentaries about cinema of the 70th Venice International Film Festival (August 28 – September 7.
The section, introduced last year, features a selection of classic film restorations completed over the past year by film libraries, cultural institutions or production companies around the world.
Cardinale will attend the screening of Vaghe stelle dell’Orsa, Luchino Visconti’s 1965 film in which she starred that won the Golden Lion at the 30th Viff and has been restored by Sony Pictures Entertainment.
It is is one of the four classics restored this year that has been conserved at the Historic Archives of the...
Claudia Cardinale, best known for roles in Once Upon a Time in the West and Fellini’s 8 ½, is to be the guest host of Venezia Classici, the section devoted to restored films and to documentaries about cinema of the 70th Venice International Film Festival (August 28 – September 7.
The section, introduced last year, features a selection of classic film restorations completed over the past year by film libraries, cultural institutions or production companies around the world.
Cardinale will attend the screening of Vaghe stelle dell’Orsa, Luchino Visconti’s 1965 film in which she starred that won the Golden Lion at the 30th Viff and has been restored by Sony Pictures Entertainment.
It is is one of the four classics restored this year that has been conserved at the Historic Archives of the...
- 7/15/2013
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
“After watching the film, he cried. I have never seen him so emotional. He is a man of very few words and rarely praises any work. He came to me and told me, “I am fine with the length.” That itself was high praise.”
P. K. Nair with Shivendra Singh Dungarpur after the screening of “Celluloid Man” in Mumbai Film Festival
A journey that started with attending Il Cinema Ritrovato (Cinema Rediscovered) festival in Italy came a full circle for Shivendra Singh Dungarpur when his film Celluloid Man premiered at the same festival in 2012. An archivist and Ftii-trained filmmaker, Dungarpur has made a significant contribution to Indian cinema by making a film on the work of P.K. Nair, the man who single-handedly built the national film archive. In an interview with DearCinema, Dungarpur reveals his discoveries and plans about preservation and restoration of Indian films:
How did it occur...
P. K. Nair with Shivendra Singh Dungarpur after the screening of “Celluloid Man” in Mumbai Film Festival
A journey that started with attending Il Cinema Ritrovato (Cinema Rediscovered) festival in Italy came a full circle for Shivendra Singh Dungarpur when his film Celluloid Man premiered at the same festival in 2012. An archivist and Ftii-trained filmmaker, Dungarpur has made a significant contribution to Indian cinema by making a film on the work of P.K. Nair, the man who single-handedly built the national film archive. In an interview with DearCinema, Dungarpur reveals his discoveries and plans about preservation and restoration of Indian films:
How did it occur...
- 12/13/2012
- by Nandita Dutta
- DearCinema.com
“Why should P.K.Nair not be a recipient of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award? After all, whatever we have of Phalke’s Raja Harishchandra, meaning just the first and last reels of the film, are there due to Nair’s unwavering vision and his endless efforts. Again, the only complete Phalke film available to us, namely, Kaliya Mardan (1919), is there because of Nair. If someone like him is not deserving of the Phalke Award, one wonders, who is?”
In mid-November, when the Calcutta air is cooler than in the preceding several months, I had the delightful experience of watching a 150-minute documentary film in a small auditorium in the company of no more than a dozen other people. What added to the delight was the fact that those who were there for the film’s first shot were in his or her seat till the last. This is not a small thing,...
In mid-November, when the Calcutta air is cooler than in the preceding several months, I had the delightful experience of watching a 150-minute documentary film in a small auditorium in the company of no more than a dozen other people. What added to the delight was the fact that those who were there for the film’s first shot were in his or her seat till the last. This is not a small thing,...
- 12/12/2012
- by Vidyarthy Chatterjee
- DearCinema.com
Next at UCLA’s Festival of Preservation at the Billy Wilder Theater in Westwood: On Wed., April 15, at 7:30 pm: Efraín Gutiérrez’s Run, Tecato, Run (1979), described as a real-life inspired tale that "depicts a junkie’s efforts to get off heroin in order to reclaim and raise his daughter." Actor-director Gutiérrez is expected to attend the screening. On Fri., April 17, at 7:30 pm: Lester James Peries‘ Gamperaliya (1964), a "seminal" work in Sri Lankan cinema that has been compared to Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy. Gamperaliya tells the story of "a teacher and member of the new rising middle class, who falls in love with the daughter of his village’s leading aristocratic clan. Defensive positions are assumed and the girl’s parents insist upon a marriage to a stuffed shirt of her own class." On Sat., April 18, at 7:30 pm: Director Edgar G. Ulmer’s Ruthless (1948) is described as...
- 4/14/2009
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Out of Competition
CANNES -- Lester James Peries' "Mansion by the Lake" was one of two official selection films here inspired by Anton Chekhov plays. Peries, considered the father of Sri Lankan cinema, has transferred certain themes and characters from Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" into a Sinhalese social drama. The trauma of change and its strains on a once-wealthy family apply as well to a Sri Lankan family in the 1980s as to aristocrats in 1905 Russia. As a cinematic window onto a seldom-seen corner of the world, and as a quietly effective mood piece, "Mansion by the Lake", which screened Out of Competition, makes a perfect film festival movie. Any North American distribution, though, would be highly limited to older adults.
The 84-year-old director has made 18 films in a career stretching back to 1956. So it is somewhat surprising to encounter problems throughout the movie with exposition and repetition of information. These should have been licked at the screenplay stage. (In French fashion, writing credit gets divided between Peries for scenario and Somaweera Senanayaka for dialogue.) There also are minor irritants like a ring of keys carried by the mansion's caretaker that clatter away through dialogue passages. OK, we understand these keys are symbolic, but must they be such noisy symbols?
After several years in London, the widow Sujata Rajasuriya (Malini Fonseka) and her teenage daughter Aruni (Paboda Sandeepani) return to the family estate in Sri Lanka. Her adopted sister Sita (Vasanthi Chaturani), the keeper of those keys, has looked after the place while their brother Gunapala (Sanath Gunatileke) enjoys his life without ever dreaming of working or making something of himself.
The home's idyllic setting, a leftover from colonial days majestically overlooking a placid lake, proves illusory. The family is up to its eyeballs in debt, and the bank threatens to auction the property.
The widow and her brother turn to several possible saviors: Lucas (Ravindra Randeniya), the crafty son of a former tenant farmer, now a millionaire businessman; batty old Aunt Catherine (Iranganie Serasinghe), who lives alone with her even more daffy servant; and a lawyer, who can only shake his head. The family's way of life appears doomed.
Sujata also must confront ghosts, notably those of her late husband and, most traumatically, a son who died in the lake as a young boy. What provokes dreams about her son is the sudden appearance of his old tutor, Kirthie Bandara (Senaka Wijesinghe), now a radical student determined to shake the tree on which the old aristocracy so precariously perch. Kirthie means to be an instrument of the demise of the old world of privilege and caste despite the knowledge that the police are looking for him.
"Mansion by the Lake" is slow going at times, but when characters speak from the heart, the movie achieves a poignancy that helps us to understand the pain that social change produces. In the case of this now-downtrodden family, they face not change but a realization that they are already dead, that they are themselves ghosts.
Peries views their situation with touching ambivalence. Clearly, he is drawn to some aspects of the old ways, which he himself must have witnessed earlier in his life. Yet he recognizes how anachronistic the family has become and how characters are more comic than tragic. There is much wisdom in this film.
Veteran Fonseka manages to project an odd combination of tranquility and anxiety, while Chaturani is particularly fine as the one family member who never quite felt she belonged.
With the mansion's canopied beds, serene paintings and trim gracefully offsetting the white walls, we sense a world of order and privilege. A final sequence in which two bulldozers appear can't help but make one shudder.
MANSION BY THE LAKE (WEKANDA WALAUWA)
Taprobane Pictures
Credits:
Director: Lester James Peries
Screenwriters: Somaweera Senanayaka, Lester James Peries
Producers: Chandran Rutnam, Asoka Perera
Director of photography: K.A. Dharmasena
Production designesr: Sumitra Peries, Mani Mendis
Music: Pradeep Ratnayake
Editor: Gladwin Fernando
Cast:
Sujata Rajasuriya: Malini Fonseka
Sita: Vasanthi Chaturani
Gunapala: Sanath Gunatileke
Aruni: Paboda Sandeepani
Lucas: Ravindra Randeniya
Aunt Catherine: Iranganie Serasinghe
Kirthie Bandara: Senaka Wijesinghe
Running time -- 118 minutes
No MPAA rating...
CANNES -- Lester James Peries' "Mansion by the Lake" was one of two official selection films here inspired by Anton Chekhov plays. Peries, considered the father of Sri Lankan cinema, has transferred certain themes and characters from Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" into a Sinhalese social drama. The trauma of change and its strains on a once-wealthy family apply as well to a Sri Lankan family in the 1980s as to aristocrats in 1905 Russia. As a cinematic window onto a seldom-seen corner of the world, and as a quietly effective mood piece, "Mansion by the Lake", which screened Out of Competition, makes a perfect film festival movie. Any North American distribution, though, would be highly limited to older adults.
The 84-year-old director has made 18 films in a career stretching back to 1956. So it is somewhat surprising to encounter problems throughout the movie with exposition and repetition of information. These should have been licked at the screenplay stage. (In French fashion, writing credit gets divided between Peries for scenario and Somaweera Senanayaka for dialogue.) There also are minor irritants like a ring of keys carried by the mansion's caretaker that clatter away through dialogue passages. OK, we understand these keys are symbolic, but must they be such noisy symbols?
After several years in London, the widow Sujata Rajasuriya (Malini Fonseka) and her teenage daughter Aruni (Paboda Sandeepani) return to the family estate in Sri Lanka. Her adopted sister Sita (Vasanthi Chaturani), the keeper of those keys, has looked after the place while their brother Gunapala (Sanath Gunatileke) enjoys his life without ever dreaming of working or making something of himself.
The home's idyllic setting, a leftover from colonial days majestically overlooking a placid lake, proves illusory. The family is up to its eyeballs in debt, and the bank threatens to auction the property.
The widow and her brother turn to several possible saviors: Lucas (Ravindra Randeniya), the crafty son of a former tenant farmer, now a millionaire businessman; batty old Aunt Catherine (Iranganie Serasinghe), who lives alone with her even more daffy servant; and a lawyer, who can only shake his head. The family's way of life appears doomed.
Sujata also must confront ghosts, notably those of her late husband and, most traumatically, a son who died in the lake as a young boy. What provokes dreams about her son is the sudden appearance of his old tutor, Kirthie Bandara (Senaka Wijesinghe), now a radical student determined to shake the tree on which the old aristocracy so precariously perch. Kirthie means to be an instrument of the demise of the old world of privilege and caste despite the knowledge that the police are looking for him.
"Mansion by the Lake" is slow going at times, but when characters speak from the heart, the movie achieves a poignancy that helps us to understand the pain that social change produces. In the case of this now-downtrodden family, they face not change but a realization that they are already dead, that they are themselves ghosts.
Peries views their situation with touching ambivalence. Clearly, he is drawn to some aspects of the old ways, which he himself must have witnessed earlier in his life. Yet he recognizes how anachronistic the family has become and how characters are more comic than tragic. There is much wisdom in this film.
Veteran Fonseka manages to project an odd combination of tranquility and anxiety, while Chaturani is particularly fine as the one family member who never quite felt she belonged.
With the mansion's canopied beds, serene paintings and trim gracefully offsetting the white walls, we sense a world of order and privilege. A final sequence in which two bulldozers appear can't help but make one shudder.
MANSION BY THE LAKE (WEKANDA WALAUWA)
Taprobane Pictures
Credits:
Director: Lester James Peries
Screenwriters: Somaweera Senanayaka, Lester James Peries
Producers: Chandran Rutnam, Asoka Perera
Director of photography: K.A. Dharmasena
Production designesr: Sumitra Peries, Mani Mendis
Music: Pradeep Ratnayake
Editor: Gladwin Fernando
Cast:
Sujata Rajasuriya: Malini Fonseka
Sita: Vasanthi Chaturani
Gunapala: Sanath Gunatileke
Aruni: Paboda Sandeepani
Lucas: Ravindra Randeniya
Aunt Catherine: Iranganie Serasinghe
Kirthie Bandara: Senaka Wijesinghe
Running time -- 118 minutes
No MPAA rating...
NEW YORK -- The 41st annual New York Film Festival, which will kick off Oct. 3 at Manhattan's Lincoln Center, appears to be taking its cue from this year's Festival de Cannes. As previously announced, Clint Eastwood's mystery/drama, Mystic River, from Warner Bros. Pictures/Village Roadshow, will open the Manhattan festival (HR 6/26). It also screened in competition at Cannes in May. It will be reunited at the NYFF with such other Cannes fare as Gus Van Sant's high-school study, Elephant. The HBO Films/Fine Line Features release was Cannes' Palm D'Or winner this year. In addition, other Cannes competitors that made the NYFF cut include Denys Arcand's The Barbarian Invasions (Miramax Films), Lars Von Trier's Dogville (Lions Gate Films), and Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Turkish production Uzak (New Yorker Films). Other NYFF selections that screened in various out-of-competition Cannes sections include Errol Morris' documentary The Fog of War (Sony Pictures Classics); Scottish helmer David Mackenzie's Ewan McGregor-starrer Young Adam; Iranian auteur Jaffar Panahi's Crimson Gold (Wellspring Media); Sri Lankan Lester James Peries' Mansion by the Lake; Cambodian Rithy Panh's S21: The Khmer Rouge Death Machine (First Run Features); and Faouzi Bensaidi's French-Moroccan production A Thousand Months.
- 8/18/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Opening Film (Out of Competition) "Fanfan la Tulipe" -- Gerard Krawczyk Closing Film (Out of Competition) "Modern Times" -- Charlie Chaplin In Competition "Dogville" -- Lars Von Trier "Les Invasions Barbares" -- Denys Arcand "Il Cuore Altrove" -- Pupi Avati "Carandiru" -- Hector Babenco "Uzak" -- Nuri Bilge Ceylan "Mystic River" -- Clint Eastwood "The Brown Bunny" -- Vincent Gallo "The Moab Story -- The Tulse Luper Suitcases Pt 1" -- Peter Greenaway "Tiresia" -- Bertrand Bonello "Shara" -- Naomi Kawase "Bright Future (Akarui Mirai)" -- Kiyoshi Kurosawa "A Cinq Heures De L'Apres Midi" -- Samira Makhmalbaf "Ce Jour La" -- Raoul Ruiz "Father and Son" -- Alexander Sokurov "Elephant" -- Gus Van Sant "Swimming Pool" -- Francois Ozon "Les Cotelettes" -- Bertrand Blier "La Petite Lili" -- Claude Miller "Strayed (Les Egares)" -- Andre Techine "Purple Butterfly" -- Liu Ye Out of Competition "Mansion by the Lake" -- Lester James Peries "Les Triplettes de Belleville" -- Sylvain Chomet "Qui a Tue Bambi" -- Gilles Marchand "Le Temps du Loup" -- Michael Haneke "Va et Vient" -- Joao Monteiro "The Matrix Reloaded" -- Wachowski Brothers Special Screenings "Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin -- Richard Schickel "Il Grido D'Angoscia Dell' Uccello Predatore 20 Tagli D'Aprile" -- Nanni Moretti "S-21, La Machine de Mort Khmer Rouge" -- Rithy Panh "The Fog of War" -- Errol Morris "The Last Customer" -- Nanni Moretti "The Soul of a Man" -- Wim Wenders Short Films in Competition "A Janela Aberta" -- Philippe Barcinski "Cracker Bag" -- Glendyn Ivin "Fast Film" -- Virgil Widrich "Ik Ontspruit" -- Esther Rots "L'homme Sans Tete" -- Juan Solanas "My Blind Brother" -- Sophie Goodhart "Novembersno" -- Karolina Jonsson "The Most Beautiful Man in the World" -- Alicia Duffy "To Tameno" -- Marsa Makris Un Certain Regard "En Jouant 'Dans La Compagnie Des Hommes' " -- Arnaud Desplechin (opening) "A Story That Begins at the End" -- Murali Nair "A Thousand Months" -- Faouzi Bensaidi "All Tomorrow's Parties" -- Yu Lik Wai "American Splendor" -- Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini "Crimson Gold" -- Jaffar Panahi "Drifters" -- Wang Xiaoshuai "Hoy y Manana" -- Alejandro Chomski "Japanese Story" -- Sue Brooks "Kiss of Life" -- Emily Young "La Meglio Gioventu" -- Marco Tullio "Les Mains Vides" -- Marc Recha "Robinson's Crusoe" -- Lin Cheng-Sheng "September" -- Max Faerberbock "Stormy Weather" -- Solveig Anspach "Struggle" -- Ruth Mader "Young Adam" -- David Mackenzie...
- 4/23/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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