Discoveries from Sri Lanka World Cinema

In 2011 Channel 4 exposed damning evidence of atrocities committed in the war in Sri Lanka. Jon Snow presents this powerful follow-up film, revealing new video evidence.

The film deals with the inter-ethnic, communal violence between Sinhalese and Tamils. It demonstrates the ambivalence of the Sinhala socio-political establishment towards the Tamil people.

The film is based on the political and cultural events of King Keerthi Sri Rajasinghe and his reign.

The calm, dull marriage of a young woman and her much older husband is disturbed when the man's younger brother arrives at their home.

House of Moist is a Sri Lankan horror film directed by Muvindu Binoy, which began screening around Halloween 2025 and gained attention with its unique title, local cinema buzz, and limited edition merchandise like zines. It's part of an emerging wave of Sri Lankan independent cinema, distinct from international films like House of Wax or The Room.

A village girl who newly joined to the nursing is having a relationship with an civil engineer who works nearby project. The girl gets pregnant before they get married so they decided to abort the child. But it become unsuccessful and they decide to marry before the child is born. Although they both loved their child strongly, later he gets a blood cancer and died. The husband accuse the wife for the death and they become separated. Can they survive without seeing each other?

Talented and ambitious village girl comes to town to be a singer to earn money to save her fathers's life. The film has influenced by romantic musical Bollywood film Aashiqui 2.

The lives of a hoodlum, businessman, a law student and a woman are deeply affected by the greed for power.

Pitasakwala Kumarayai Pancho Hathai (Alien Prince and Seven Kids) (Sinhala: පිට සක්වළ කුමාරයයි පැංචෝ හතයි) is a 2008 Sri Lankan Sinhala science fiction film directed by Sirimal Wijesinghe and produced by Dushyantha Mahabaduge for Cinemaya International. It stars Sanath Gunathilake and Dilhani Ekanayake in lead roles along with Janaka Kumbukage and Suminda Sirisena. Music composed by Aruna Lian. It is the 1109th Sri Lankan film in the Sinhala cinema.

The story unfolds even as its people embark on a long journey on 1st August, 1905 through place, land, territory, war and peace, home and state into the land of the unknown, to a no-man's land. Blurring the lines between fiction and reality, the film takes us on a 100-year journey, through history and memory, into the future.

Ayeshmantha fails to take their family business in his hands because of the stress he's under since his girlfriend broke up with him, so he gives up everything and leaves home to start his own adventure. On the train, he meets Rashmi, who's a very talkative and an attractive girl who has been promised to a businessman by her family. Rashmi goes to find her true love Prasad with the help of Ayeshmantha and their adventures together in finding Prasad, makes them inseparable friends.

On a tragic night, a physicist challenges the limits of time travel to save the woman he loves, but soon discovers its inherent dangers are far greater than he expects.

After witnessing her politician father's assassination by Soththi, Daughter Pooja a crucial witness, becomes a target herself. Leader is hired to safeguard her due to her pivotal role in proving Soththi's guilt.

Parliament Jokes is a 2002 Sri Lankan Sinhala comedy.

Wassanaye Sanda (Moon of the Autumn) (Sinhalese: වස්සානයේ සඳ ) is a 2018 Sri Lankan Sinhala romantic drama film directed by Udayakantha Warnasuriya. It follows the story of two young lovers Mihiri & Sandesh and struggles they face.

A woman visits a man who lives alone in an apartment. Hidden in an illuminated background of romance, marital affairs and complex love, there are many secrets that have only just begun to unravel.

Minnu is a 2024 Sri Lankan Sinhalese language drama film directed by Asoka Athaudahetti and co-produced by Renuka Balasuriya and Sunil T. Fernando. It stars Harsha Tennakoon and Menaka Peiris in the lead roles along with Kaushalya Fernando, Sujani Menaka, Jayani Senanayake and Iranganie Serasinghe in supportive roles.

In exchange for money, a poor farmer's wife reluctantly agrees to be a surrogate mother for a rich planter and his wife. After the child is born she refuses to give it up.

Dinithi tries very hard to communicate with her husband, but he ignores her presence relentlessly. The harder she tries to reach him, the deeper his silence becomes. Their 8 year old daughter watches them. Her parents try to get involved but receive the same silent treatment from him.

Drama about a father who refuses to believe in his son's death at war.

The film centers on three middle aged men staying in a hostel. At a later stage, another tenant comes to stay in the hostel, where he falls in love with the eldest daughter of the hostel owner. The entire film was based on how the old three tenants trying their best to chase the new tenant and win the heart of owner's daughter. The plot is based on the Tamil film Indru Poi Naalai Vaa.

In this brief film, the hand-processed celluloid manages to capture the mysterious figure of an exorcist in Sri Lanka.

Rathi is pregnant and waits for her boyfriend, who is a soldier. In one of his visits on leave, Rathi tells him about her pregnancy. Soon after, she finds out that he is actually married, has no intent to take care of the child and simply tells her to perform an abortion.

Gini Awi Saha Gini Keli (Firearms and Fireworks) is a Sri Lankan epic crime film based on a popular fictitious novel written by Anura Horatious. The plot revolves around the ascension and downfall of Padmasiri, a gang leader in Sri Lanka. The film also provides a clear overview of the underworld thuggery and political corruption during the latter part of the 1980s in Sri Lanka.

A former rebel returns home from military detention searching for his missing lover whose plight was yet to be revealed by the rebel’s soothsaying mother.

Kolomba Sanniya (Colombo Mania) is a 1976 Sinhalese language comedy film directed by Manik Sandrasagara that follows the lives of middle and upper-class people in rural and urban Sri Lanka. The film stars Geetha Kumarasinghe, Joe Abeywickrema and Denewake Hamine are notable for containing the first depiction of best comedy in a Sinhala film.

A renowned filmmaker receives a mysterious call from an old college mate in the middle of the night. Asandhimitta, whom he recalls as a large and voluptuous woman, asks him to make a film based on her life. She then confesses that she was recently involved in a triple homicide of three women and is taken into custody shortly afterwards. Intrigued, the filmmaker attempts to piece together her fragmented story for a film while Asandhimitta herself awaits her fate in a local prison.

The film set, in post war Sri Lanka, brings us close to two characters who collide quite accidentally, and through them we experience the deep and seemingly unbridgeable chasm that conflict almost always creates. Will love help them cross the bridge? Or will the past continue to color the present? A man and a woman from the two ends of the thirty-year-old bloody civil war in Sri Lanka discover that the color of love is blue, and life, shades of grey.

Happily pregnant Nelum is diagnosed with cancer. After her baby boy is born safely, she approaches death.

This film is based on incidents that took place in the country within the last 20 years and the impact they caused on the lives of people. It also focuses on the wide-ranging problems faced by the youth of this country.The youth focused on are two young hired assassins, Lionel and Dhammika, who are hiding out while their deed is on every television. The same television also shows them John Travolta's violence in Pulp Fiction--strictly amateur stuff! While they are hiding in Colombo, Bandarawela and Ahatuwewa drink, try on hip-hop clothes, befriend an upper class girl. It's only a matter of time until their acts catch up to them. Will they escape once again?

Kimbulapitiya, is ambitious and wants to become an MP, he likes Roopika his boarding master's daughter. But Roopika likes Bandu. As his mother does not approve his friendship with Roopika, Bandu disguises himself as a woman and comes to work there as a housemaid to get her consent.

A virus is spreading across Sri Lanka, reportedly causing young people to commit suicide. The Disease Control Unit promises containment of this terrifying pandemic by any means necessary, citing supernatural forces that only ancient healing rituals can vanquish. As parents mourn the deaths and disappearances of their children, government henchmen prepare the bodies and the remaining living prisoners for a cleansing of disturbing proportions.

The legends of Ceylon's first king and his yaksha clan queen.

Parliament Jokes is a 2002 Sri Lankan Sinhala comedy.

Talented and ambitious village girl comes to town to be a singer to earn money to save her fathers's life. The film has influenced by romantic musical Bollywood film Aashiqui 2.

Keti Bendi Aliya (කෙටි බෙන්දි අලිය) is a 1980 Sri Lankan film directed by Sumitra Peries. The film is in Sinhala and runs for approximately 100.0 minutes. The film was produced in Sri Lanka.

Rakshitha and his sister Mahesha have joined a new school. Their teacher's son Diluka, who is jealous of Rakshitha studies in the same class. Unaware of Diluka and Rakshitha's enmity, their relatives fall in love and decide to get married. Will this be the end of their bitterness?

A young girl distraught by her mother's sudden illness finds solace in a beachfront carnival's puppet show run by a mysterious ringmaster.

Thunveni Yamaya (Third part of the night) is an attempt to delve deep into, and cinematically depict a series of terrifying and tormenting experiences of a young man (Percy), during a nightmare honeymoon. These experiences appear to be a catharsis of traumatic experiences of a bewildered childhood. And in their eructation they engulf all around them, his wife (Princy), his mother, his servant, and all who come in contact with him, the most cruelly persecuted being the image of his own innocent childhood.

Ayeshmantha fails to take their family business in his hands because of the stress he's under since his girlfriend broke up with him, so he gives up everything and leaves home to start his own adventure. On the train, he meets Rashmi, who's a very talkative and an attractive girl who has been promised to a businessman by her family. Rashmi goes to find her true love Prasad with the help of Ayeshmantha and their adventures together in finding Prasad, makes them inseparable friends.

Yahaluvo (Friends) (යහළුවෝ), also known as Yahaluwo, is a 2007 Sinhala romantic drama film. It was directed by Sumitra Peries, produced by Namal Senasinghe, the brother of Sujeewa Senasinghe, and scored by Navaratne Gamage. The film stars Sujeewa Senasinghe and Pooja Umashankar in lead roles along with Iranganie Serasinghe, Tony Ranasinghe, Kamal Addararachchi, and Anarkali Akarsha in supportive roles. It is the 1097th Sri Lankan film in the Sinhala cinema.

Big-city boy Pathum enjoys heading out to his family’s ancestral village in the Sri Lankan countryside for his annual hunting trip. He’s a bit callous about the unwritten rules of the hunt, though, and outright dismissive of the rumours about Kura Raaksha, the hoofed demon who enforces those rules. Let the hunt begin. – Rupert Bottenberg

Sandesaya (Sinhalese language word meaning The Message) is a 1960 film. The film based on the war between the Sinhalese people and the Portuguese invaders in Sri Lanka. It was directed by Sri Lankan film director Lester James Peries. It was produced by K. Gunaratnam on behalf of the Cinemas Company on the request of Raj Kapoor.

An adolescent boy with no birth certificate denied access to free education. He overwhelms the whole country and achieves what he has been dreaming in daylight.

The film is based on the life of Jesus Christ until the crucifixion. It was the first Sinhala film based on Christianity and directed by a Buddhist.

A lone, introvert man who lives with his mother gets a suprise visit from a guest and shares a secret with "THE GUEST".

Anura, a village youth manages to qualify for university where he discovers a whole new world which threatens his beliefs and values.

A story based on the magical artistry of a tattoo artist

Thunveni Yamaya (Third part of the night) is an attempt to delve deep into, and cinematically depict a series of terrifying and tormenting experiences of a young man (Percy), during a nightmare honeymoon. These experiences appear to be a catharsis of traumatic experiences of a bewildered childhood. And in their eructation they engulf all around them, his wife (Princy), his mother, his servant, and all who come in contact with him, the most cruelly persecuted being the image of his own innocent childhood.

England educated Dr. Sarath Pathirana (Vijaya Kumaratunga), who is willing to try out new methods to treat his patients, is directed towards a special patient by the Head Doctor (Henry Jayasena) at the mental hospital. This patient is a beautiful girl named Nirmala…

A young woman on the edge of a half constructed building top trying to jump off. But a voice talks to her. It's a man. He tells her it's a matter of the last second thought which step her away from jumping. They start taking and decide to run away. So their story unveils while they travel around and across the country.

The story follows Bonny Mahaththaya (Gamini Fonseka), a wealthy and hedonistic landowner who lives a life of wine and pleasure. His world is challenged by his unrequited love for Kamala (Punya Heendeniya), who instead loves a humble worker named Sirisena (Joe Abeywickrama).

A young girl distraught by her mother's sudden illness finds solace in a beachfront carnival's puppet show run by a mysterious ringmaster.

A young girl plagued by relentless nightmares is drawn into a terrifying world where her dreams and reality begin to merge, revealing that the danger she fears in her sleep may be horrifyingly real. As death closes in, she must confront a truth darker than any nightmare.

Gini Awi Saha Gini Keli (Firearms and Fireworks) is a Sri Lankan epic crime film based on a popular fictitious novel written by Anura Horatious. The plot revolves around the ascension and downfall of Padmasiri, a gang leader in Sri Lanka. The film also provides a clear overview of the underworld thuggery and political corruption during the latter part of the 1980s in Sri Lanka.

Two friends went to treasure hunt and what's happen next?

Professor Thompson commits murder after the chaos that occurred due to marriage. Kevin, an 8 month old who's left alone at the end, returns home after 57 years, as an elderly sex offender. He finds the same Egyptian musical instrument- a dildo- which drove his wife through the same chaos. The audience of the film Horn , a science fiction will be turned on about the process which confirms the existence and the survival of our future mankind as a result of the effort of recovering his wife's virginity.

In the gentrifying neighborhoods of Colombo, an adolescent girl copes with her insecurities by seeking solace in fantasy.

A romance film exploring the profound nature of human affection and emotional boundaries. Formulated as a deeply moving love story, the narrative delves into the reality that not all romantic journeys culminate in conventional happiness. It examines how deep affection operates beyond social limitations, capturing the poignant sacrifices made by individuals navigating the unpredictable paths of love.

Two best friends meet again after some time apart.