Sri Lankan filmmaker, veteran director, producer, editor, and screenwriter Kala Keerthi Sumitra Peries, a foremost contributor to Sri Lankan cinema, passed away on 19 January at the age of 88 while undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Colombo.
Since her directorial debut with the film ‘Gehenu Lamai,’ an instant hit which won several awards locally and internationally including ‘Outstanding Film of the Year’ at the London Film Festival in 1978, Sumitra Peries went on to make her mark in Sri Lankan cinema, coming to be known over the years as the ‘Poetess of Sinhala Cinema’.
She has since been credited as director on 10 movies, with many of them winning international awards. Peries has been lauded with numerous accolades, with her films ‘Ahasin Polawata’ (1979) and ‘Ganga Addara’ (1981) winning her the Presidential Award for Best Editor and films like ‘Ganga Addara,’ ‘Yahalu Yeheli’ (1983), ‘Loku Duwa’ (1997), and ‘Duwata Mawaka Misa’ (1998) winning her the award for Best Director.
It is undeniable that Sumitra Peries will be missed and her loss will be felt widely amongst Sri Lankan cinema fans and those in the industry.
Her legacy is sure to inspire generations to come and The Sunday Morning Brunch reached out to a number of prominent Sri Lankan filmmakers for their thoughts on her passing and the impact she has had on their own careers.
Doing the most for Lankan cinema
Asoka Handagama shared that he believed Sumitra Peries was one of the greats who would be remembered for decades to come.
“Sumitra Peries was the one and only established female director and her loss will be felt and it is sure to create a gap in that space for some time. Certainly there are others such as Inoka Sathyangani and Anoma Rajakaruna, but they haven’t quite done films at that scale which Peries was able to do.”
He further noted that the lack of women in the industry would be felt even more prominently with her absence: “This will further add to the imbalance we have in this industry when it comes to equal opportunity for the sexes. There must be a balance in any industry and in the cinema industry there is already a grave lack of female contributors – in that space her loss will be greatly felt.”
Prasanna Vithanage, who remained close to Peries until her last days, added that she had always been an inspiration to him and that there were very few who had managed to achieve what she had in her lifetime.
“Every artist is trying to be a poet and she was undoubtedly a poet. Both Dr. James Peries and Sumitra Peries, for well over six decades, sacrificed their entire lives and all of their personal aspirations, giving it up to work for Lankan cinema.”
He added: “Not only have they contributed through art, but they have also helped to foster a next generation. Sumitra Peries has been very helpful, encouraging my generation of filmmakers, including myself and others like Asoka Handagama.”
A poet till the very end
Vithanage also shared an interesting anecdote about Peries, showing how her light never faded when it came to her true passion of filmmaking.
“She was preparing for another film. She wanted to adapt ‘Uncle Vanya,’ a play by Anton Chekhov. She told me, ‘I don’t know if I will live long enough for this,’ and I used to tell her, ‘you never know who will go first, you or me, death doesn’t recognise age,’ and she would agree,” he recounted.
“I share this to show how her passion for cinema never died, not until she took her last breath. It is very rare that people love their craftsmanship so passionately,” he said.
Vithanage however noted that despite all this adoration for Peries after her death, recognising her genius, she had struggled to actualise her projects when she was alive: “I must say that unfortunately, while there are so many accolades and beautiful words on social media about her, there was a span of time where she was waiting for someone to provide the money so she could make a film. So although we praise people to the skies after their demise, as an industry we are unable to sustain these ‘greats’ and that is a sad thing.”
Women in film
While the world is changing and more and more women are getting into directing and filmmaking in general, Sri Lanka has remained somewhat regressive in this aspect with very little female representation, at least not in the mainstream. Sumitra Peries has remained, to an extent, a lone figure in her journey, and many Sri Lankan filmmakers have been sure to mention the prominent role she played as a much needed trailblazer.
Many recognised the challenges when it comes to entering the film industry and how these obstacles tend to deter women from engaging in the profession. Handagama noted: “It is not just female directors, even in the case of male directors, there is a concern as you may be able to make a film but screening becomes an issue. Today is unlike when we first entered the industry. Back then, while it was difficult to get your foot in the door, once you were in, you were in. However, now it is near impossible to sustain oneself as a filmmaker.”
“You must continue to create something outstanding almost consistently. The turnout is so quick and one cannot simply be competent in this industry anymore. Sumitra Peries was of course from the old guard and she also had the collaboration of Lester James Peries, who was also a juggernaut in the industry at the time,” he opined.
Vithanage also noted how there had been very few female directors and how the situation had yet to improve despite changes in the industry and things becoming more accessible. “It is a sad situation. Before Peries there were two others – Rohini Jayakody and Florida Jayalath. They were both primarily actors. Peries was a more serious director and she was able to have a long career from her debut film to her last one. The problem here is that this is a male oriented industry – it is not democratic. Although she is gone, we should at least make note of how she paved the way for the equal status of both men and women in the Lankan film industry.”
He added that there had been a social taboo against women joining the industry in the past as it was considered laborious work. “Earlier, it was considered somewhat hazardous to be on a film set, with the many large cameras, lights, etc. Sometimes you have to work with perhaps 100 men. You had to be talented, but at the same time you had to be able to handle such things,” he said, adding: “Things have changed, with digitalisation, the cumbersome aspects of filmmaking are gone, so now the time is right. It is fortunate that the world is changing, so why not Sri Lanka?
“There are great female cinema industry figures in the world now. We don’t have to refer to them as female, they are simply cinematographers and directors. It is not a male job, it is a job for anyone who has the heart for expressing their emotions through the lens,” Vithanage said.
Then and now
Anoma Rajakaruna, one of the more prominent female directors at present, shared her thoughts on how impactful Peries’s legacy was for women such as herself.
“At present we have many female directors, film technicians, and short filmmakers coming up, including young women with debut projects working on film scripts – this is a trend among women now. I started making films from the age of 17 and at that time, Sumitra Peries was an inspiration to us. There were not many women doing this and there were only four others before her,” Rajakaruna mused.
“She was one of the pioneers as the fifth female director in Sri Lanka. She was trained abroad so she had a lot of technical knowledge, having been in Europe and trained in a proper film institute. She brought a lot of that knowledge into our industry and she was certainly an inspiration to us all, especially to me. Later on, I was able to meet her and we had a lot of conversations on film in general and on women making films and she was always very supportive.”
Rajakaruna also shared how they had been able to honour Peries at the very first edition of the Colombo International Women’s Film Festival held in Colombo, where they awarded her the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Inoka Sathyangani, an internationally-acclaimed Lankan filmmaker, also expressed her thoughts, having written an emotional tribute in light of Peries’s passing. Sathyangani shared that Peries’s loss would be greatly felt and how Sumitra Peries had been a figure who had taken a maternal role in her own arduous journey as a female filmmaker in Sri Lanka. She added that she had no other maternal figures to speak of when it came to Sri Lankan cinema, concluding that it was with a heavy heart that she bid adieu to a true great, a master at her craft.