• National Film Corporation Chairperson Sudath Mahaadivulwewa on the need to preserve Sri Lankan classics

The restoration of Sumitra Peries’ ‘Gehenu Lamai’ has drawn attention to Sri Lankan classics and the movies that formed the early years of Sri Lankan cinema. ‘Gehenu Lamai’ marked Peries’ directorial debut as Sri Lanka’s first female filmmaker. It also marked Wasanthi Chathurani’s debut as an actor. The 1978 film is based on the book by Karunasena Jayalath.

The film was restored by India’s Film Heritage Foundation in association with the Lester James Peries and Sumitra Peries Foundation. ‘Gehenu Lamai’ was restored under the aegis of FISCH: France-India-Sri Lanka Cine Heritage – Saving Film Across Borders, which is a pioneering international collaboration between the Film Heritage Foundation, the Embassy of France and the French Institute in India, and the Embassy of France in Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

The film was restored at the L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in association with the Lester James Peries and Sumitra Peries Foundation, using the best surviving elements: The 35 mm combined dupe negative and two 35 mm release prints preserved at the National Film Corporation (NFC)

Going beyond preservation, the restored ‘Gehenu Lamai’ was selected for a world premiere at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival 2025, where it was selected under the Cannes Classics category. This gave those involved in the making and restoration of the film the opportunity to walk the Cannes red carpet, drawing even more recognition to Peries’ debut film, her other work, and Sri Lankan cinema.

Two questions come to mind when talking about the film’s restoration: Will it be screened for Sri Lankan audiences and will Sri Lankan authorities continue efforts to restore classics? Answering these questions was National Film Corporation Chairperson Sudath Mahaadivulwewa, who went into detail about how the restoration came about and why he saw the project as a good starting point to preserving Sri Lankan cinema.

Following are excerpts from the interview:

How did the ‘Gehenu Lamai’ restoration come about?

This project has a somewhat lengthy history. Dammith Fonseka was interested in restoring the films of his father, Gamini Fonseka. When he was looking into restoration facilities in the world, he came across Shivendra Singhe Dungarpur from India. He is the director of the Film Heritage Foundation. As a result of the relationship formed between them, Dungarpur presented a Lester James Peries memorial lecture about restoration in Sri Lanka.

During a subsequent visit to Sri Lanka, he had a look at the films at the NFC, the NFC Archive, and the National Archives, the condition they were in and their restoration.

A few months ago, the Film Heritage Foundation, the French Government, the NFC, and the FISCH project held a four-day workshop where we trained a group of individuals in film restoration, giving them hands-on experience.

And so, the film restoration project had been going on for quite a few years and it was during this project that ‘Gehenu Lamai’ was discussed. When Dungarpur visited Sri Lanka, he met with Lester James Peries and Sumitra Peries, and Sumitra Peries told him she would like it if one of her films was restored.

After her funeral, Dungarpur made a promise to her family that at least one of her films would be restored. Of course, this was a promise made verbally, but the process involved was so much bigger, especially with ‘Gehenu Lamai’ selected for the Cannes Classics.

The Cannes Classics red carpet was introduced recently. Until then, the films were screened, but only the cast and crew of films shortlisted for the Cannes competitions walked the red carpet. But now, those involved in the Cannes Classics selection can also walk the red carpet.

The restoration of ‘Gehenu Lamai’ came while the Film Heritage Foundation had the task of restoring the commercially-successful film ‘Sholay’. However, they made certain adjustments and restored ‘Gehenu Lamai’ as well.

I think, as a country, we should be thankful to Dungarpur and the Film Heritage Foundation. The French Government also played a huge role in this project, as well as the FISCHE project, which was formed to look at how France, India, and Sri Lanka can work together to restore films.

These parties worked with the NFC on the restoration of ‘Gehenu Lamai’. The Cannes red carpet event took place during my tenure, but those who chaired the NFC before me played a huge role in this process.

As I said, this is a years-long project that is seeing its final result: The restoration of ‘Gehenu Lamai’ and its Cannes premiere and red carpet walk.

When foreign parties are involved in restoration, do we lose the rights to the restored movie? How is this navigated?

That depends on the agreement we sign. Restoring a film costs a lot of money – around Rs. 10 million. There are very few places in the world that can carry out such work, one being the L’Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna, Italy – which is one of the best today.

Something most of us aren’t aware of is that when restoring a film, all the elements of the film must be there. There can’t be missing reels or parts. If such components are missing, restoration takes much longer. And sometimes, the film can’t be restored at all.

When a film goes into restoration, the first condition is that the production is there in full. A lot of films in Sri Lanka don’t meet this condition. If the film is on 10 reels, for instance, but one is missing, then we can’t restore it. Even if four out of five reels are good, we can’t restore the film. Thus, to restore a film, there can’t be any missing reels and there can’t be any damage to the reels, as this can cause gaps in the soundtrack, for instance.

The condition of the film also matters. If there is a lot of damage, such as vinegar syndrome, it can take a long time to restore – and may not even be possible in some cases. So preserving a film requires the qualification of such conditions, and it can be quite rare to find a production that meets these conditions.

It’s not about restoring just about any film. There is a process involved and basic minimum qualifications the film should meet.

Today, technology is very advanced so certain elements can be recreated and updated but all of this costs a lot of money and a lot of time. Considering this, I believe that the first step of restoration is maintaining a film in a way that it can be restored and maintaining a list of films that can be restored.

You mentioned that a lot of films in Sri Lanka don’t meet the conditions to be restored. Does this mean we are at risk of losing them?

The key issue is that as a nation, we don’t have a culture of giving importance to the preservation of films. This is quite unfortunate. It is not sufficient that efforts are taken by a handful of individuals or organisations. We need to make an effort to preserve films as a nation.

If you think about it, India’s Film Heritage Foundation as well as the French Government preserve their own films, but in addition to these efforts, they are also preserving the films of other countries.

We need to understand that when preserving a film, the main purpose is to enable future generations to watch it. But in doing so, we are also preserving the clothes of that era, the thinking, and the behaviour. The environment that is being preserved has significance politically, sociologically, anthropologically, and so on. Thus, preserving films is even more valuable than preserving photographs or paintings.

Restoration efforts need to take place nationally, but I don’t think we as a nation have still formed an understanding that we need to take this on as a country. It is in such a context, within such a mindset, that certain individuals with a rare understanding of the need to preserve films made a huge effort to restore ‘Gehenu Lamai’. This is what makes this project unique. If those individuals hadn’t thought that way, then ‘Gehenu Lamai’ would not be restored.

How will the recognition received by ‘Gehenu Lamai’ impact Sri Lankan cinema as well as its art and culture?

Walking a red carpet is in itself a recognition. I saw people on social media with different takes on this but most aren’t aware of what actually happened here and how it happened.

I saw some questions as to why ‘Gehenu Lamai’ was selected, why a Sumitra Peries film, why not another film? Rather than answering these questions, I think we need to understand that it is good that we started somewhere.

A lot of Sri Lankan films have been restored. For instance, ‘Nidhanaya’ by Lester James Peries was restored. So were ‘Welikathara’, ‘Bambaru Awith’, and Dharmasiri Bandaranayake’s ‘Hansa Vilak’. Whether these restorations are at the same level or standard is another matter, and some films were restored privately, like Dharmasena Pathiraja’s ‘Bambaru Awith’, the restoration of which his son was involved in.

In the case of ‘Gehenu Lamai’, the film was restored by the Film Heritage Foundation, but they took it a step further with the Cannes Classics and red carpet. The French Government’s support was immense, with the FISCHE project connecting them. The Lester James Peries and Sumitra Peries Foundation, the NFC, and so on all collaborated on this project.

This can be considered a landmark project and people can now look at how we can take these efforts forward. It’s a good starting point, drawing international recognition to a Sri Lankan film. This has opened that space for the preservation of a film to reach the red carpet of an international film festival. This, I believe, has in turn opened the doors for us to think differently.

A Sri Lankan film gained such recognition while the Film Heritage Foundation also presented Satyajit Ray’s ‘Aranyer Din Ratri’, which was spearheaded by Wes Anderson.

Are screenings of ‘Gehenu Lamai’ being considered in Sri Lanka?

The NFC’s Tharangani Hall is still under construction and until it is complete, we can’t say anything concrete about screenings. But we do want to plan a large-scale event after construction is complete.

The French Embassy has also spoken to me about events bringing together those involved in the project as well as diplomats. What’s important is that efforts will be made, whether it is by the NFC or the French Embassy.

Does the NFC have plans involving the restoration of other movies?

The NFC will continue these restoration efforts. We are also looking at teaching school students about the importance of this type of work.

We are in the process of shortlisting films that need to be preserved, looking at around 10 films that can be considered landmark productions from different eras. We are compiling this list, checking if they have owner agreements, and how we can proceed.

More films can be preserved if we receive support and collaboration offers from other organisations and interested parties.

In addition to this, we also have plans to allocate funds from our budget starting next year to restore at least one film a year. This will be a costly initiative, for which we may need support from the private sector, donors, or embassies.

When it comes to restoration work, the relationships we maintain with the parties involved in a project will be a determining factor in future restoration projects. If we disrupt or sully these relationships, they may hesitate to work with us in the future. This is something we need to keep in mind.