As part of the FISCH (France–India–Sri Lanka Cine Heritage – Saving Film Across Borders) project, a unique initiative of international cultural cooperation, the film Gehenu Lamai (Girls), directed in 1978 by iconic Sri Lankan filmmaker Sumitra Peries, has been painstakingly restored and recently screened at the prestigious Cannes Classics section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.
This 4K restoration, carried out by the Film Heritage Foundation in collaboration with the French embassies in India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, and carried out at the L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in Bologna, marks a major step in the preservation of South Asian cinematographic heritage. Gehenu Lamai, a sensitive and deeply feminine work, highlights social conflicts and the aspirations of young women in a traditional society — a theme that still resonates greatly today.
The screening of this restored film in Cannes is not only a tribute to the director, a pioneer of cinema in Sri Lanka, but also a concrete achievement of the FISCH project, which aims to preserve, restore and transmit the major works of the region's cinematic heritage.
FISCH, through this concrete achievement, establishes itself as a model of transcultural cultural cooperation and an essential vector of global film memory.
https://filmheritagefoundation.co.in/fisch-france-india-sri-lanka-cine-heritage-saving-film-across-borders/
