Senior Minister for International Monetary Cooperation Dr. Sarath Amunugama delivered the second annual ‘Lester James Peries Oration’ at the Sri Sambuddhatva Jayanthi Mandhiraya auditorium in Colombo last week.

The topic of this year’s oration was "Lester James Peries: In Defence of Humanistic Cinema". The event also coincided with the 48^th wedding anniversary of Lester and Sumitra.
Prof. Phang Lai Tee, Senior Assistant Director, Audio Visual Archives of the National Archives of Singapore who was the guest of honour spoke on "A National Archives: Importance of Audiovisual Archiving Embraces Films and Beyond".

The “Lester James Peries and Sumitra Peries Foundation”  which organised the event is an Approved Charity and is incorporated by an Act of Parliament. Its Trustees are Dr. Lester James Peries, Mrs. Sumitra Peries, Mrs. Gayathri Mustachi, Mr. Yadamini Gunawardena and Mr. Kumar de Silva.

Pix by Kushan Pathiraja