For the first time in Sri Lanka, the 4K restored version of Nidhanaya (1973) of filmmaker Lester James Peries will be screened on the opening day of “Archiving the Image: From Conservation to the Screen” – a workshop on Film Programming and Photograph & Film Conservation that will take place in Colombo from April 7 – 9, 2025, Dr Nadeera Rupesinghe, Director General National Archives said.

The screening at the auditorium of the National Archives at 6.30 pm on 7 April 2025 is open to the public free of charge. The film was restored in 4K by Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory and The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project.

This screening with English subtitles for the first time in Sri Lanka of the restored film is made possible by The Film Foundation and Cineteca di Bologna, with special thanks to the Lester James Peries and Sumitra Peries Foundation and the Film Heritage Foundation of India.

Nidhanaya (The Treasure) is a Sinhala language black and white film based on a dark tale by G.B. Senanayake and is considered a milestone film, albeit it is atypical of Lester James Peries’s customary family dramas. The story revolves around a psychotic killer yet is an underlying serious political study on the degradation of a class of society. In 1972 the film won the Silver Lion of St Mark at the 33rd Venice International Film Festival and was selected as one of the outstanding films of the year, receiving a Diploma at the London Film Festival. It was also voted as the best film of the first 50 years of Sri Lankan cinema.

“Nidhanaya” was restored in 2013 by Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in association with The Film Foundation’s  World Cinema Project, Lester James and Sumitra Peries and was premiered at the Venice International Film Festival 2013.

This screening is especially significant as the birthday of the late Dr Lester James Peries was on 5 April, also the day the National Film, Television and Sound Archives was opened by him at the Sri Lanka National Archives in 2014.

This screening of the restored Nidhanaya and other screenings and events are a part of the Archiving the Image: From Conservation to the Screen, a Workshop on Film Programming and Photograph & Film Conservation, held in collaboration with the Embassy of France in Sri Lanka and the Maldives, the Embassy of France in India, the Film Heritage Foundation of India, the Sri Lanka National Archives and the National Film Corporation under the France India Sri Lanka Cine Heritage (FISCH) programme.

The following are other events planned for the programme.

APRIL 8 | 06:30 pm

Kummatty

1979, The Bogeyman, Aravindan Govindan, India, Malayalam,

Colour, 90 minutes, English Subtitles

Restored in 4K by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project, Film Heritage Foundation and Cineteca di Bologna at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in association with General Pictures and the family of Aravindan Govindan

APRIL 9 | 05:30 pm

Talks by Ambassador of France in Sri Lanka Rémi Lambert, Minister of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs Dr Sunil Senevi and Artistic Director, Festival des 3 Continents Jérôme Baron

APRIL 9 | 06:30 pm

The Cemetery of Cinema

2023, Le Cimetière de la Pellicule, Thierno Souleymane Diallo, France, Documentary, French and Senegalese, Colour, 93 minutes, English Subtitles