Gehenu Lamai (The Girls). 1978. Sri Lanka. Written and directed by Sumitra Peries. With Vasanthi Chathurani, Ajith Jinadasa, Jenita Samaraweera, Shyama Ananda. New York restoration premiere. DCP. In Sinhala; English subtitles. 110 min.
The Girls is a major rediscovery. The achingly beautiful debut feature of the Sinhalese writer, director, editor, and producer Sumitra Peries, it stars the then-unknown 16-year-old schoolgirl Vasanthi Chathurani and Jenita Samaraweera as a pair of young sisters in rural Sri Lanka—one shy and dutiful, the other more rebellious and starry-eyed—who long for love and independence in a snobbish, patriarchal society that provides girls with little and expects even less. Sumitra Peries was best known for editing her more famous husband Lester James Peries’s auteurist films before The Girls established her as an uncommonly nuanced and sensitive storyteller. This restoration has proven exceedingly difficult, but the Film Heritage Foundation, which has been so vital in restoring masterworks and rediscoveries of South Asian cinema, including Satyajit Ray’s Days and Nights in the Forest and Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay, will undoubtedly partner once again with the Lester James Peries and Sumitra Peries Foundation in continuing to bring their revelatory films to light.
Restored by Film Heritage Foundation at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in association with the Lester James Peries and Sumitra Peries Foundation. Funding provided by a grant under the aegis of FISCH: France – India – Sri Lanka Cine Heritage – Saving Film Across Borders.