Cinema
The Girls
ගැහැනු ළමයි
Sumitra Peries · 1978
Synopsis
Kusum, a poor village girl, spends her holidays working at her aunt's, in the well-off Satharasinghe family. Nimal, the eldest of the cousins, encourages her to study, and she enters boarding school, where she becomes friends with Padmini. Years later, back from university, Nimal falls in love with her; but Kusum judges herself unworthy of his rank, and the young man's mother has other ambitions for her son.
Context
The film adapts a novel by Karunasena Jayalath; the director wrote the screenplay and edited the film herself. After two years of research, she cast Vasanthi Chathurani, a schoolgirl from Gampaha, as Kusum. Released on 17 March 1978, it made the young actress famous at once. Restored in 4K at the L'Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in Bologna, it was presented at Cannes Classics in 2025 and was released in French cinemas for the first time on 18 February 2026, by Carlotta Films.
Who it is for
A film in Sinhala lasting an hour and fifty minutes, available in France in a restored, subtitled version since 2026.
Prizes and reception
Distinguished as an outstanding film of the year at the 1978 London Film Festival, and a great popular success from its release on the island.
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