| Lester James Peries has been making films for 56 years starting with the 16mm black and white 14-minute ‘Farewell to Childhood’ made in London in 1950 where he was the Times of Ceylon correspondent there. Moving on to feature films in 1956, he made 19 films - the last - ‘Ammavarune’ being released in 2006.
Reminiscing on his career as a professional filmmaker (“professionally I have done nothing else”), he recalls making amateur films in London for three years. “”That was within a different framework. It was more a hobby at that time and I made films while being a journalist.
His creations have been recognized globally. Most of them have been exhibited at international festivals and he has collected more awards internationally -14 in number – than locally.
After returning to Sri Lanka and joining the Government Film Unit (GFU), he made documentaries. He is best known for at least two – one on the eradication of malaria in the dry zone titled ‘Conquest in the dry zone’ (35mm 14 mts – 1954) and the other on drunk driving titled ‘Be safe and be sorry’ (16mm 25mts -1955).
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| Lester on location shooting his last film Ammawarune. |
Taking the bold step of quitting the GFU with a few others, Lester started work on ‘Rekava’ which marked a new experience for the Sinhala filmgoer. “There was tremendous satisfaction in making ‘Rekhava’ breaking all the rules and going in a new way,” he says. “Today I just can’t imagine that sound was recorded on location over 50 years ago. We can’t do it now.”
Stressing that making a film is a team effort, Lester says, “When you make a good film I always feel it is a miracle.” He adds; “It is dependent on so many factors and people. Occasionally it works. All the separate elements – scripting, story value, reality, emotional impact – must come together. That happens rarely and when it does happen, then you have something really worthwhile and satisfying.”
Of his feature films, he considers ‘Gamperaliya’ and ‘Nidhanaya’ (1972) as “the more perfect”. Among the more recent films, ‘Wekande Walauwe’ (2003), he says, came off well.
The world has recognized Lester’s contribution to cinema. He was introduced as the “Formidable Genius” when he was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Government of India at the 2000 New Delhi International Film Festival. This rare honour was given for his “outstanding contribution to the field of cinema and for enriching the art of filmmaking.
There were three more awards in successive years – the Golden Lotus at Deauville (2001), the Asian Film Culture Award (2002) and the UNESCO Fellini Gold Medal (2003) given at the Cannes Festival as “a tribute to his film career, which has inspired a whole generation of Sri Lankan filmmakers, and in recognition of his exceptional contribution to Sri Lankan cinema and for laying the foundation for an authentic national film culture”.
Earlier, the French Government conferred ‘ The Legion d’Honneur” (1997) and the Government of Sri Lanka recognized him with the ‘Golden Lion Presidential Award’ when Sri Lankan cinema celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 1997. Twenty years earlier, he was awarded the ‘Kala Keerthi’ - the highest national honour for “enriching the artistic life of the country”.
Having known Lester for nearly four decades, I still remember our first meeting when I interviewed him for a feature for the Sunday Observer (then the Observer Magazine edition). He gently told me I should spell his name ‘Peries’ and not ‘Pieris’or ‘Peiris’.
I got an opportunity of observing him at work when he made a documentary of the CTC sugarcane project at Soragune off Haputale. (I was then in charge of public affairs at CTC). He was so methodical, clear in his own mind as to what had to be done, and never in a hurry. I remember he insisted on taking his can of drinking water and specially prepared ‘chillie-less’ curries from home. His disciplined food habits have seen him enjoy a healthy life over the years.
Lester is a disciplined man – not only in his eating habits but in whatever he does – the way he dresses, the way he gets about, the way he handles his players and crew, the way he creates films, the way he writes. His journalistic acumen is very visible in his writings and words. I treasure the autographed First day cover of the stamp issued in his honour – the first of a living legend in arts in Sri Lanka. “For Rane whose simple seeming style of writing camouflages a great sensitivity to the Arts and to the Cinema”, he wrote.
Lester’s hallmark is his simplicity and modesty. Delivering the Convocation Address after receiving the honorary D. Litt from the Peradeniya University in 2003 for his “monumental contribution to the cinematic art of Sri Lanka”, he said: “After 53 years of working in films one begins to wonder how much one knows. And I can tell you one knows very little. To work in any discipline is a learning process. The man who knew everything is only in H.G. Wells’ science fiction story and he was called ‘The man who knew too much’ which turned out to be a dangerous thing.
“After 53 years in filmmaking, I know what I don’t know and I don’t know what I know.”
Let me end this tribute on his 90th birthday with the wish –
Siyak aayu leba – Mageth aayu lebaw
Matath vada kal- oba jeevathwewa! | 
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