Directed by Dr. Lester James Peries, widely regarded as the father of Sri Lankan cinema, and based on a short story by the prominent Sinhalese author G.B Senanayake, Nidhanaya is a chilling portrait of a crumbling aristocracy in colonial Sri Lanka through the microcosm of one man’s psychological turmoil.
Often likened to his Indian contemporary Satyajit Ray, Dr. Lester James Peries won the Silver Lion at the 1972 Venice International Film Festival for Nidhanaya which has been lauded as the best film of the first 50 years of Sri Lankan cinema and was included among the top 100 films of the century by Cinémathèque Française.
This is the first time the film is officially being screened in the UK.
Willie Abeynayake (Gamini Fonseka), the superstitious scion of a once-wealthy family facing financial ruin, comes across an ancient manuscript that holds the keys to a secret treasure. However, in order to retrieve it, Willie must find a virgin girl with four birthmarks and perform a sacrifice. Tormented by the impossibility of the task, Willy grows increasingly disturbed but when he miraculously encounters the ideal woman with birthmarks (Malini Fonseka), her unwavering devotion towards him softens his heart, until sudden economic turmoil force him once again to reconsider the sacrifice.
Nidhanaya was restored in 2013 by Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in association with The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and the Lester James and Sumitra Peries Foundation, and was premiered at the 2013 Venice International Film Festival.
The screening will be preceded by a pre-recorded introduction by guest curator Anupma Shanker.
Anupma Shanker is a British-Indian film curator and archives researcher with a deep and evolving interest in marginalised and minority screen narratives from, of and about the past. Her curatorial practice is focused on bringing to light films and filmmakers that remain overlooked, inaccessible and undiscovered but can offer valuable insight, wisdom and guidance in contextualizing the difficult but urgent discourses about the myths and realities of shared/contested histories, heritage, identities and memories.
