New Film Council to liberate Sri Lanka’s cinema industry
The government is to set up the Sri Lanka National Film Council with the aim of modernising the film industry and shift the state’s 5-decades-long role from a business competitor to just a regulatory and promotional body.
With the objective of creating a strategic orientation with regard to the sectors that are not covered by the Sri Lanka National Film Corporation (NFC), a fundamental draft bill has been prepared in relation to the structure and role of the proposed new Film Council.
The Sri Lanka National Film Corporation Act No. 47 of 1971 will be repealed and replaced with new legislation to establish the Sri Lanka National Film Council.
It will provide a strategic direction for areas not covered by the old law and focus on regulating and promoting cinema culture.
Industry stakeholders have long called for the NFC to be a regulator, not a competitor.
However, exhibitors argue that decades-old restrictions particularly the rigid quota system limiting film imports are crippling the Rs. 10 billion industry.
Sinhala cinema is thriving at present, with six films this year earning over Rs. 200 million each. Box office revenues have already surpassed Rs. 1.5 billion in the first half of 2025, compared to just Rs. 7 million in 2024.
Private investors are building new multiplexes in cities such as Kandy and Galle, but warn that without regulatory reform, growth will stall, they said.
Although the 1971, 1987-1889 insurrections, the 3-decades-long Northeast war and other minor revolts including Easter Sunday bomb attacks exerted an impact on the industry, it is NFC’s monopoly in distribution and import of films that has caused the downfall of the industry, industry stakeholders alleged.
As the Corporation was the sole distributer of films no good content was provided to cinemas resulting in patrons moving away from a film-going culture that was once very vibrant in the country.
When distribution was partially liberalised in 2001, four private film distribution circuits – Lanka Film Distributors Ltd (LFD), E.A.P. Films and Theatres Ltd (EAP), Movie Producers and Importers Ltd (MPI) and Cinema Entertainment Ltd (CEL) entered the market in addition to the NFC, and were permitted to import and distribution of films .
They urged the government to limit the NFC’s role to a regulatory body and to fully liberalise film distribution, allowing for private sector involvement without bureaucratic constraints.
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