Sheysha - Sri Lankan Film

The extraordinary debut of trailblazing Sri Lankan filmmaker Sumitra Peries is a poignant, pointed study of two sisters battling class and gender restrictions.

Kusum (Vasanthi Chathurani), a shy girl born into a religious family, is driven to strive beyond her social status, in which she’s resigned to the position of ‘basketwoman’s daughter’. A dutiful student, she engages in classroom debates on Sri Lankan national sovereignty and politics, and soon catches the eye – and affections – of affluent classmate Nimal. Meanwhile, Kusum’s sister, Soma, also yearns to escape, but her dreams of becoming a beauty queen butt up against cruel realities.

Sumitra Peries – the wife of Lester Peries (considered the ‘father of Sri Lankan cinema’), and an acclaimed editor and director in her own right – was her country’s first female filmmaker; and The Girls, her hugely impressive debut, was honoured as the Outstanding Film of the Year at the 1978 London Film Festival. Shot in luminous black-and-white and rich with empathy, the film lyrically adapts Karunasena Jayalath’s novel of the same name, and is blessed with a tender leading turn from first-time actor Chathurani. Once lost to time, The Girls was championed in Mark Cousins’s documentary series Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema (MIFF 2020) before being fully restored in this gorgeous 4K print, which premiered at Cannes in May.

“Peries zooms in and out like in a Robert Altman or Nicolas Roeg film. She creates dazzling images and uncertain emotions … Why did we forget her?” – Sight & Sound

Restored by Film Heritage Foundation at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in association with the Lester James Peries and Sumitra Peries Foundation.