Movies: Lester James Peries

Indian documentary about Indian film history and P. K. Nair, the founder of the National Film Archive of India and guardian of Indian cinema. He built the archive can by can in a country where the archiving of cinema was considered unimportant....

Vaishnavee (The Goddess), (Sinhalese: වෛෂ්ණාවී) is a 2018 Sri Lankan Sinhala drama thriller film directed by veteran director Sumitra Peries and produced by Mano Nanayakkara. 1930’s, Sri Lanka. Partly a compelling domestic drama, and a demonic love ...

Baddegama or, more correctly, Beddegama is a 1980 award winning Sinhalese language film directed by Lester James Peries that follows the lives of village people in British Colonial Sri Lanka. The film is based on the 1913 book titled as "The Village ...

The son of a newly rich industrialist becomes embroiled in a murder cover-up....

Piyal is a handsome young teacher who is hired to teach English to Nanda, a member of a high class family. They fall in love, but can't elope because Piyal is of a lower class. Nanda's parents instead push her into a marriage with Jinadasa, who is of...

Voted for in Sight & Sound's 2022 Greatest Films of All Time poll...

A sprawling portrait of rural life in Sri Lanka; the story revolves around a boy and his friend--a blind girl who he accidentally 'heals' by giving her sight. Though the girl believes the boy healed her, in reality the boy has no such powers. The fat...

Very loosely based on Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, Lester James Peries's MANSION BY THE LAKE follows a family of formerly wealthy, expatriate Sri Lankan landowners, now impoverished, as they return from England to the magnificent country estat...

Based on a short story written by G.B. Senanayake in one of his short story collection known as "The Revenge," the film revolves around a murder committed for the purpose of gaining access to a hidden treasure....

The Girls is about the growing up of two schoolgirl sisters and the disappointments to which they are condemned by their impoverished backgrounds....

Epic tale set in 5th century Sri Lanka, following the battle for the throne between Kassapa and his father King Dhatusena...

Sandesaya (Sinhalese language word meaning The Message) is a 1960 film. The film based on the war between the Sinhalese people and the Portuguese invaders in Sri Lanka. It was directed by Sri Lankan film director Lester James Peries. It was produced ...

This is the sequel to Sri Lankan director Lester James Peries' Changes in the Village made in 1964, about a young couple who grew to love each other after entering into an arranged marriage. In Kaliyugaya the young couple have aged, their children ar...

Dhammi is a mischievous schoolgirl, Sugath a shy and introverted boy new in school. Dhammi is immediately attracted to him and they become friends. The friendship eventually develops in to a special relationship, but when Sugath reveals his love for ...

Dr. Sarath (Tony Ranasinghe) domineers over his timid wife Vineetha (Sriyani Amarasena). When she is to have a Caesarean delivery of their baby, Sarath refuses to be present even though he himself is a doctor. She dies during surgery and Sarath is fo...

Madol Duwa (Mangrove Island) is a 1976 Sri Lankan drama film directed by Lester James Peries and produced by Upasena Marasinghe. The film stars Ajith Jinadasa as Upali, a young rebellious youth who travels to a small island to get away from the restr...

Awaragira is a 1990 Sri Lankan film directed by Lester James Peries and produced by Dilman Jayaratne for Dil Films. It stars Joe Abeywickrama, Iranganie Serasinghe and Tony Ranasinghe in lead roles along with Lucky Dias and Vasanthi Chathurani. Music...

The calm, dull marriage of a young woman and her much older husband is disturbed when the man's younger brother arrives at their home....

Ammawarune ("Elegy for a Mother") is a poignant study of a widowed mother Sumanawathi and her relationship with her three grown-up children. Her elder son Kassapa is a young monk leading almost a cloistered, monastic life in an isolated temple. Thoug...

Nirudaka, a man rejected from the people around him just because he's ugly, falls for a beautiful blind girl, Sundari. After their marriage he and his mother try to cure her blindness although Nirudaka doesn't like it because he thinks her wife will ...