• 'Police Choir Detmold' to perform in Sri Lanka
• Daniel and Migel appear again
• Mano W. in new role of director
• Houston Award for 'Saroja'
• Book on Sri Lankan cinema
• 'Sulangak Hamai'  : spiritual songs
• Nimal's new idea
• "Maya Agni" portrays a family in distress
• 'Gedara Dora': All about homes

'Police Choir Detmold' to perform in Sri Lanka

'Police Choir Detmold ev Germany', a choir conducted by world famous German conductor Martin Krueger will perform at Bishop's College auditorium on April 25 at 7.00 p.m.

'Police Choir Detmold" is a presentation of Rotary Club of Colombo West and the Local promoters of the event are Jetwing Travels.

The Choir consists of thirty members and they will perform fifteen songs in English and about twelve songs in German. Most of the songs will be spiritual and hymns.

The tickets are priced at Rs. 250/- and available at Rotary Secretariat, Douglas & Sons Ltd., Pan Audio, Lanka Oberoi and Jetwing Travels.

On January 30, 1952 twenty six members of the Detmold police formed a choir. Their goal was to bring joy to the people with their music as well as to help to improve the relationship between citizens and the police.

Through their enthusiasm and intensity the choir was able to perform in public after a short period. In their home region the Policechoir Detmold has friendly relationships to other choirs and orchestras. The social intergration is well documented in the fact that many active members come from different occupations other than police officers, joining the choir as active singers. The closeness towards the citizens of the region is expressed in the yearly "Spring Concert" peformed by the choir in the park of the Detmold Castle. Through the membership of the "Saengerbund der Deutschen Polizei" numerous relationshps to other policechoirs national as well as international development throughout the years. The Policechoir Detmold has performed in concerts in German cities like Berlin, Braunschweig, Flensburg, Frankfurt, Goettingen, Hamburg, Karlsruhe, Kiel, Wiesbaden and Saarbruecken. The choir also gave concerts in neighbouring countries, Vienna (Austria), Bozen (Italy), Hasselt (Belgium), Enschede and Scheveningen (Netherlands). Hull and lpswith (Great Britain) and Zilona Gora (Poland).

Their repertoire includes a range from opera, country music, musical, pop music, folk songs, spirituals and Christmas songs.

Upto present the Policechoir Detmold has produced live MCs/CD's representing a range of their repertoir. Titles like "Wo froh Musik erklingt", "Freude am Leben", "O Herr, welch ein Morgen", "So leb dein Leben" and "Klaenge der Freude" are well known. The Policechoir Detmold has a total of fifty-seven active singers and is conducted by Martin Krueger.

Since 1962 a yearly concertprogram has been established and includes the "Springconcert" in the park of the Detmold castle, and since 1984 concerts in the health spa towns of Bad Salzuflen and Bad Meinberg and starting in 1988, a biannual Christmas concert in the "Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche" (Holy-Cross-Church) of Detmold is given.

Daniel and Migel appear again

They are back. They are back with romance, action and humour. Bandu Samarasinghe and Tennyson Cooray are back again with Part II of the "Re Daniel and Daval Migel". 

Second part of the film starts with the release of two friends from jail on a special request made by US president Bill Clinton and several other world leaders.

But there was only one person to welcome them, the laundry owner where Daniel and Migel hired their suits from before they went to the prison, few years back. They gave their clothes except tie and the pair of trousers they were wearing and then had difficulties of finding clothes for them. Daniel and Migel attended a wedding ceremony at a hotel and they wore clothes that belonged to a couple of Indian singers. They singing at the wedding. The crowd however realise that these two are not professional singers. They beat both Daniel and Migel and call the police.

Even though they were caught by the police again , both Daniel and Migel managed to run away after crying and begging pardon from the police.

However, later on two of them find their old friends Chandi Aiyya (Ranjan Ramanayake) Madhuri (Sangeetha Weeraratne), Maduranga(Maduranga Senanayake).

Tennyson Cooray and Bandu Samarasinghe acts as Daniel and Migel. The film is directed by Roy de Silva and produced by Soma Edirisinghe. The others in the cast are Vasana Dantanarayana, Roy de Silva, Sumana Amarasinghe, Ronie Leach, Mangala Premaratne, Lal Kumara and Gemunu Wijesuriya. 

The songs were written by Hemasiri Halpita, singers Nuwan Goonawardena, Champa Kalhari, Nirosha Virajani, Sangeeth Wickremasinghe. 

Make up by Denzil Jaya–weera, art by Nandalal, Assistant Director Pradeep Mahesh, Music by Somapala Ratnayake, Camera by G. Nandasena.

Mano W. in new role of director

By. Susitha R. Fernando.

The producer of the award winning film " Mee Haraka" (Buffalo), Mano Weerasekara is to release his debut work as a director. 

The name of the film "Pasa Diya Gini Sulang Pahasa" ( Consequences of Patavi, Apo, Thejo, Vayo) is taken from the Buddhist concept that the world is made of fire, water, air and soil.

The background to the story is taken from the Holy Bible which gives a different interpretation to the world's first sin in the story of Cain and Abel.

The story gives a philosophical idea to the unsatiafid feelings of a girl as she grows up to womanhood.

The film revolves around three characters including a girl and two biblical characters in Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam and Eve.

"The three characters relate a story common to humanity. Whether it is past, present or a the future the sexual attraction between opposite sex is a everlasting phenomenon," the director said. 

"Using less than 100 minutes I tried to relate the story of Adam and Eve'. I adopted the biblical story taking the ideas from different religious concepts including the Holy Quran and Dhammapada without antagonizing the religious feelings," said Mr. Weerasekara when questioned about the different interpretations given to the Bible story.

Speaking on the future Mr. Weerasekara said "My challenge is to make off beat art movies for the commercial circuit in my role of directing films,".

The film also gives a boost to the country's exotic natural beauty as pictured in Kalthota, Kapugala and Palatupana areas in Yala.

The director appreciated the invaluable assistance given by veteran musicians Pandit Amaradeva and Visharadha Nanda Malini as play back singers for the film.

The film introduces Chelsea Manvell as the newest heroine and Nelu Adhikari as a female playback vocalist to the Sinhala cinema. 

The cast of the film includes Chelsea Manvell, Suresh Gamage, Dr. R.S. Jayawardhana, Khristine Ericsson, Sanjeeva Dissanayake and Ananda Athukorale.

The film was produced by Indra Weerasekara while K.D. Nicholas wrote the script. M.S. Alliman edited and G. Nandasena was the cinematographer of the film.

Houston Award for 'Saroja'

The first Sri Lanka film chosen for the competitive section in an International American Film Festival has won an award.

Somaratne Dissanayake was awarded the Bronze for his maiden effort at the 33rd Houston American International Film Festival last week.

The film directed by Somaratne Dissanyake and produced by Renuka Balasuriya was among the 45 feature films which have been selected from all over the world.

Representing Sri Lanka for the first time "Saroja" competed in several sections.

Meanwhile the film also was chosen for the competitive section at the Singapore International Film Festival from among 300 films.

Earlier the film won the best film award chosen by the audience and best Asian film at the Dhaka International film festival in Bangladesh and chosen for the competitive section of the Kerala and Singapore film festivals.

Book on Sri Lankan cinema

The Asian Film Centre announces its new publication, Profiling Sri Lankan Cinema by Prof. Wimal Dissanayake and Ashley Ratnavibhushana.

This is probably the only book on Sri Lankan cinema now available in the English Language. It gives the history of the nearly fifty three years of film-making in the island, and comprehensively and critically analyses all aspects of Sri Lankan cinema including the major directors and their films, the popular cinema industry, shorts and documentary film-making, and the relationship between the Sri Lankan cinema and the Sri Lankan State.

Informed by the concepts of modern critical theory, accompanied by a full index, a complete list of all the feature films made in the island since 1947 and well illustrated, this book ends the longstanding absence of Sri Lanka in the world's collection of film books in English. It will prove valuable to film scholars as well as the general reader. It can also be used with profit in University course on Film Studies, Asian Cinema and Asian Culture.

Prof. Wimal Dissanayake is a leading scholar of Asian Cinema and communication. He is an Adjunct Fellow of the East-West Centre, Hawaii and a Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Hong Kong. He is also on the Graduate, Faculty of the University of Hawaii. Prof. Dissanayake is the Founding Editor of the East-West Film Journal and the author and editor of over 25 scholarly books on cinema and cultural studies published in the United States and United Kingdom.

Ashley Ratnavibhushana is the Director and Founder of the Asian Film Centre and the foremost interpreter of Sri Lankan cinema to the outside world. He is the Editor of the film journal Cinesith and is a regular contributor to such international film journals as "Cinemaya, Film International and Cine & Media.

He authored a book titled Technical Aspects of Cinema in 1975. He has served on a number of FIPRESCI & NETPAC juries of international film festivals including those of London, Locarno, Berlin, Tokyo, Singapore, Rotterdam, Pusan and Mumbai. Ashley was a founder member of the OCIC/Sri Lanka Branch and the Co-ordinator of the lst SAARC Film Festival held in Colombo in 1999. He is Secretary General of the Sri Lanka Film Critics' Forum, Regional Secretary (Asia Zone) International Federation of Film Societies, President of the Federation of Film Societies in Sri Lanka and Consultant to COE/Italy.

The book is priced at Rs.450 (hardcover) and Rs.350 (paperback) and is available at leading bookshops

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'Sulangak Hamai'  : spiritual songs

All ten songs were composed by Pastor Luchow and brother Solomons and this was his fourth spiritual audio cassette.

The music direction for 'Sulangak Hamai' was by Lilan Lamb and David Luchow.

The songs are comprised in different styles and produced by Rev. Luchow and Cathy Luchow.

It is available for sale at the United Christian Bookshop at Bible House basement.

Nimal's new idea

Experienced stage and teledrama artiste Nimal Jayasinghe presently employed in Oman is busy, in directing a teledrama, based on the experiences of an expatriate in the Middle-East.

The whole tele-drama will be shot in Middle East with actors and actresses living in Oman and other Middle Eastern countries.

The cast includes Wasantha Rajapakse, Laxman Peiris, Kumudini Peiris, Ganga Palihawadana, Prasanna Palihawadana, Aruna Perera, Shereen Perera, H. L. Premaratne, Padma Premaratne, Tissa Danthanarayana, W. R. Kulatunge.

Pictured above is from the "Muhurat" ceremony with some of the artistes involved.

"Maya Agni" portrays a family in distress

By Susitha R. Fernando

Sitana is the head of the family with his wife and son and daughter. High minded Sitana always tries to hide the helpless economic situation in the family and starts borrowing secretly to cover up debts. 

He was completely unaware that his egoism is going to be the downfall of the whole family.

Sitana thinks the only way to regain their power is to educate his daughter Chandralatha and make her a doctor. Meanwhile Chandralatha starts a secret love affair with Sirinatha, son of a former servant in the Walawwa. Siriyalatha's husband too was a servant at the Walawwa and later earned a little money and tried to destroy the Sitana family. 

The self esteemed Sitana in his attempt to maintain his family status goes on borrowing despite his inabilty to repay and finally he becomes a debtor of his enemy called "Ibond". 

Every effort to rise above the grave economic situation ends in failure. He also fails to find a suitable partner for his daughter.

Finally Sitana loses his property including the Walawwa. The new owner of the whole property of the Sitana family tries to get Sitana's daughter Chandralatha as his wife. He even is ready to give back the property which he gained from Sitana for his daughter.

He seeks the help of a 'Kattadiya' to win over the girl. But when Kattadiya refused Ibond hires some thugs to get it done by force. Sirinatha the secret lover of Chandralatha decides to stand up against this inhuman act and fight.

Meanwhile Chandralatha too gets ready to go with Ibond.

The major parts of the tele drama have been filmed in Embilipitiya.

The cast comprises Semini Iddamalgoda, Janaka Kumbukge, Vishaka Siriwardhena, Rebecca Nirmali and G.R. Perera.

'Gedara Dora': All about homes

This programme will be telecast every fortnight on Tuesdays. It will be presented in three clippings based on above mentioned topics. Interviews will be conducted on each subject with prominent figures in the relevant field.

'Gedara Dora', a twenty five minutes programme is present by Sangeetha Weeraratne and directed by Sanjaya Vithanage.

Sanjaya has been working as an Assistant Director in Film and Television for the last 8 years. His maiden Tele drama "Suratharuwa" won the Best Scriptwriter and the Best Music Director awards at the Sumathi Tele Awards 1997.

Programme Fraction One: Architecture

Historic Architecture

In this fraction of the programme Historic Architectural systems in Sri Lanka will be discussed in detail. Ideal sites will be selected from ancient cities such as Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Sigiriya and Kandy. Dutch and British period architectural designs will also be covered in the programme.

Modern Architecture

This section will be based on architectural value in a modern world and how it can ease our day to day activities. It will also be discussed how Architecture differs according to the geographical environment and other factors such as the profession of the house owner.

Program Fraction Two: Interior Design

This part of the programme will discuss the importance of Interior design in a contemporary world. It will also reveal how lights colours curtains, furniture, floor, etc.

Program Fraction Three: Landscape Design

Essential rudiments in Landscape Design will be presented in this part of the programme as a guideline to novice users.
 

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