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Linton
soon in town with "Pickpocket"
The
story is about a professional pickpocket who is struggling to extricate
himself from this business finds his wife's photo in the purse of
one of his victims which shatter him. The film will be released
in CEL circuit cinema from the first week of September. 'Mage Wam Atha'
is to compete in several international film festivals this year
including Fukuoka IFF in Japan, Pusan IFF in Korea. In addition
'Mage Wam Atha' will be represented at Calgary IFF in Canada, Oslo
IFF in Norway and Rotterdam IFF in Netherlands. "Pickpocket"
(Mage Vam Atha) in which Linton himself portrays the lead role of
Kamal who is married to a village damsel and comes to the city to
work in a garment factory. Eventually even her parental bonds get
severed and this girl finds solace in the company of her husband
Kamal and few selected friends. However the
pickpocket is soon accused by his pregnant wife played by Dilhani
Ekanayake of bringing misery on other families as well as into their
own home. He has promised to reform but he cannot find another line
of work in the big city which will earn him a living wage. His wife
has not been in touch with her family for many years- ever since
her marriage to Kamal. She would like to go home to the village
to be with them once she has her child. One day, after a morning
of picking pockets, Kamal finds a photograph of his wife in one
of the men's purses he had just stolen. His whole world is thrown
into chaos. Though on many occasions he tried to forget this unhappy
episode it started simmering in him. He does not tell his wife about
his find instead he begins to distrust her and goes in search of
the owner of the purse. Finally what he finds lead to an unexpected
ending and it is only the beginning of his tragedy. Linton became
an internationally acclaimed director with his debut film "The
outcast" (Padadaya) in which he played the main role. It participated
at a number of international film festivals and won the Best Film
and Best Director awards at the 6th Dhaka international Film Festival
2000 in Bangladesh. The film also
won in five categories at the Presidential Awards 2000 here including
Best Actor. The Sri Lanka Film Critics' Forum, affiliated to FIPRESCI-
the international Federation of Film Critics-awarded the film its
Best Actor, Best Cinematography and Best Director awards in 2000. Others in the
lead roles in Linton's latest film are Gayani Gisanthika, Sarath
Kotalawela, Mahendra Perera and Saumya Liyanage. Elmo Halide
is the editor, Sujeeva Paranaheva is art director and M. D. Mahindapala
is the cinematographer. Music is directed by Pradeep Ratnayake and
the script is by Priyankara Ratnayake. 'Dummala
Warama' at Elphinstone This is a fund raising project by the Seva Vanitha Unit of the Central Bank to donate a school building for the Thorakolayaya Vidyalaya, an underprivileged school in the Embilipitiya District. 'Dahas
Gawdura': a formulaic telefilm Directed by
Anuruddha Jayasinghe the mini film depicts how the weaknesses of
a man brings his downfall.
Sumathipala
is considered to be a headstrong character both by his parents and
the elders of the community. Sumathipala is in love with a beautiful
village damsel, namely "Sudee". Sumathipala's parents
object to this as Sudee's mother Elsina has had a wayward past in
her youthful days. This results in Sudee and Sumathipala deciding
to get married and finding residence in an urban area. He finds
employment at a bank in Kalutara as a peon and lives amid many hardships. Meanwhile Sumathipala's
brother Dharmadasa completes his studies successfully and finds
employment in the public sector. He is well respected in the village.
Due to an involvement in a fraud, Sumathipala looses his job. Finally
in desperation he goes back to his parents with his wife and children.
Sumathipala
borrows a small amount of money from his brother to start a business.
He operates a bakery in the village, which he obtains on lease and
with the help of his wife "Sudee" also called 'Sudu Hamine'
makes it a flourishing business. Sumathipala broadens his business
even to Colombo and soon gets involved with women. He starts a secret
affair with Sudu Hamine's sister Kusumalatha too. Meanwhile Sudu
Hamine despite all these odds, handles her domestic responsibilities
well. However realising
the pathetic plight that her sister is in Kusumalatha suddenly stops
all links with Sumathipala. Enraged Sumathipala neglects his business.
He also accused one of his employees "Sardiyes" of having
an affair with his wife and chases him off. As a result Sumathipala
is shot dead by Sardiyes one night. Rumors spread that Sudu Hamine
is responsible for the death of Sumathipala and she commits suicide. Did Sudu Hamine
really have a hand in the death of her husband? What about Kusumalatha?
What would be the future of the children of Sumathipala and Sudu
Hamine? When the story comes to an end all these would be answered
and the truth is revealed though too late. The cast includes
Wasanthi Chathurani, Roger Seneviratne, Channe Perera, Kanchana
Mendis, Daya Tennakoon, Grace Tennakoon, Ranjith Rubasinghe, Hemasiri
Liyanage and Rukmal Nirosh. Ruwan Costa handled the camera, while Welegedara Ranasinghe was the art director and Chanaka Silva was the editor. Musical score is done by the versatile musician Rohan Weerasinghe and script written and directed by Anuruddha Jayasinghe. Lester
wins more kudos for his work on films
Present
at the ceremony were Chandran Rutnam, the producer of the film,
Dr Lester James Peiris, the Director, the famous film star and director
Dev Anand and Ram Naik, Union Minister of Petroleum, who presented
the First Asian Film Culture Award to Dr Lester James Peiris, saluting
Lester on his achievements in the Asian film industry. This is the
third time Lester James Peiris has been honoured by the Government
of India. In 1965, he won the Golden Peacock Award for the Classic
"Gamperaliya" at the International Film Festival in Delhi
and in the year 2000 he was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement
Award also presented at the International Film Festival in Delhi.
The Asian Film
Festival Award honours the reputed, director for his body of classical
films which have given a prominent place to Sri Lanka in the Asian
Film scene. His newest film which is a story set in Sri Lanka in
the 1980's was inspired by Chekov, but is very much a Sinhala film
in theme and style projecting the changing world, focusing on the
intimate family. The film stars
Probodha Sandeepana and veteran actors Malini Fonseka, Ravindra
Randeniya, Wasanthi Chathurani, Sanath Gunathilake, Iranganie Serasinghe,
Senaka Wijesinghe, Elson Divithurugama and Ranjith Rubasinghe. The
film was produced by Chandran Rutnam and Asoka Perera. The opening
film of the festival was titled "Baran" (Rain) the story
of a young Afghan woman who disguises herself as a man (Rahmat),
to find employment on a construction site after her father is injured
and is unable to work. Both these films were warmly and enthusiastically received by the audience and would definitely take their places as two classical pictures by two very talented directors. |
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