One of the pioneering figures in Sri Lankan cinema who worked tirelessly to establish a local cinema would be remembered at a ceremony held today, January 22 at the National Film Corporation.
Prof. Sunil Ariyaratne is to deliver the memorial oration to appreciate Wimalaweera’s contribution to the local cinema industry and two films directed by Wimalaweera, ‘Pitisara Kella’ and ‘Asoka’ are to be screened in the morning of the same day. After the memorial oration at 4 pm, ‘Ma Alaya Kala Tharuniya’ another film by Wimalaweera, will be screened.
The event also would mark 65 years of Sinhala cinema which falls on January 21, 2012 and 40 years since the establishment of the NFC in the country.
Credited with the original and crusading idea of taking cinema to the village by showing films in mobile picture halls housed in a tent, it was based on Wimalaweera’s ideas that Sinhala cinema gained its audience from villages and then developed a mass viewer following. |
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