The Asian Film Centre, Sri Lanka, announces publication of the first complete biography of Lester James Peries, one of the greatest filmmakers of Asia.
The book's author, the late Prof. A. J. Gunawardene, was a close friend of LJP and collaborated with him as the scriptwriter of three of the filmmaker's well known films - 'Beddegama' ('Village in the Jungle'), 'Kaliyugaya' ('The Age of Kali') and 'Yuganthaya' ('End of an Era').
Prof. Gunawardene began researching and writing this biography of Lester James Peries in the early 1990's. His intention was to enhance the narrative with his own insights, analyses and assessments of the filmmaker's work.
Sadly he passed away in 1998 before he could complete this labor of love.
However, the manuscript, which was in the possession of Dr. Lester James Peries proved to be a treasure chest. Dr. Peries passed the manuscript over to the Asian Film Centre who has now brought it up to date with his latest film 'Ammawarune'.
The biography comprehensively covers LJP's life from his childhood in colonial Ceylon, through the post-war years in London where he worked as a journalist and then an experimental filmmaker, and takes us through his nearly 56 years of filmmaking in Sri Lanka right up to his new film.
The Asian Film Center (AFC) was founded in 1991 to enhance and enrich film culture in Sri Lanka and to expand the appreciation of film as a culturally relevant art form among all sections of the population.
The AFC actively pursues a policy of developing a viable world film culture in Sri Lanka with a special focus on Asia. It plays a unique leading role in film education and training, film appreciation, hosting foreign film festivals and promotion of Sri Lankan film worldwide.
"Profiling Sri Lankan Cinema", published in 2000, co-authored by Wimal Dissanayake and Ashley Ratnavibhushana, was an introductory essay aimed at the non-specialist and general readers written with a deep acquaintance with contemporary film theories.
It focused very concisely on the growth of Sri Lankan Cinema, and on mapping its high points and dominant trends, with discussions on the more important filmmakers.
The Tamil translation of the same book was published in 2001.
AFC is affiliated to the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) an internationally recognized organization for the promotion of Asian Cinema.
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