Swarna Mallawarachchi
Birth : 1948-08-01, Sri Lanka
History
Swarna Mallawarachchi is a Sri Lankan film actress, also known as the "Golden star of Sinhalese cinema". She began her acting career whilst still a schoolgirl - starring in the 1966 released Sinhalese film Sath Samudura directed by Siri Gunasinghe. During a career that spans over 40 years, Swarna has won the 'Best Actress Award' 26 times.
When an alluring young undergrad becomes infatuated with her nearly retired professor, she stirs up the man's humdrum home life in a most unusual way.
Manorani
Three friends embark on a journey to a land that was once forbidden but a sudden encounter forces them to return to yet another land of turmoil and terror.
A Sri Lankan movie
Nona Hami
Set during the British colonial reign in Sri Lanka (1905), this powerful drama follows Peduru who descends from a line of traditional drummers, crossing over to three generations. Peduru's struggle for survival in this harsh rural hamlet exposes the repressive Buddhist institutionalization of the locals, and the hierarchical structure backed by the British colonials.
Suwisal has turned 40. He's a forgetful businessman, a philanderer, indifferent to life around him, including his young and lovely fiancée. A visit to the house of his childhood triggers memories that continue to cascade when he is called for jury duty to hear the case against Piyum, a servant he seduced and abandoned 20 years before. Now a prostitute, she is on trial for murder.
Yamuna
An illiterate and sexually frustrated young man finds himself attracted to a chic woman from the city who has come to his rural village as a school teacher.
The Walking Woman
A semi-autobiographical account of a move from Sri Lanka to Britain, which explores "being inbetween East/West, mother/father, male/female". The filmmaker was born in Sri Lanka and brought up in the traditions of European culture and Roman Catholicism. He moved to England to live and work, and the film, which combines drama and documentary, is a personal account of his "negotiation of his personal history".
Suddi
Set in the dry zone of Sri Lanka, Suddi is married to a notorious criminal in the village, Romiel. Convicted for a murder Romiel is jailed. Miserable Suddhi has to depend on Sirimewan Mudalalie, a shrewd businessman from town.
Rathmali
A woman plots her revenge after being duped by a slick, ruthless man who impregnates her and tries to bail her out of marriage.
Chanchala Reka is a Sri Lankan sinhala film released in 1981.
A married man (Nissanka) and woman (Miranda) find their lives disrupted after their affair is exposed by the police. Leaving their respective families, the two decide to live together. Shortly afterwards, Miranda secretly goes back to see her former husband. As paranoia mounts, Nissanka disintegrates psychologically to point where reality and fantasy are blurred.
Dharmesena Pathiraja's only Tamil language film, Ponmani (Younger Sister) is about a starkly different socio-economic culture and political climate. Set in the northern city of Jaffna, it traces the fortunes and concerns of an economically depleted upper caste, lower middle class family. An evocative film about land, women, romance and tragedy, narrated in an idiom of understatement.
Three young men have to face the realities of adult life as they move on from youthful frolicking to battle issues of unemployment, restlessness and the allure of the city. Two of them, Jaye and Gune, unlike their other friend who finds both a job and a wife, have only each other for company, In search of quick and easy money, they fall into hands of a scheming network of underworld figures.They become hustlers and decide to outwit their contact.
Soma
Sath Samudura is a landmark Sri Lankan film directed by professor Siri Gunasinghe and released in 1967. This film was critically acclaimed and is considered a major work in Sri Lankan cinema. It depicts the plight of fishermen living in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka.