The final rites of veteran Sri Lankan filmmaker Sumitra Peries, who passed away on Thursday (Jan 19), will be performed with full state honours.

The Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils & Local Government announced this in a press release issued earlier today.

Accordingly, the funeral of the late filmmaker will be held at the Independence Square premises at 4.00 p.m. tomorrow.

She passed away at the age of 88 while undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Colombo.

Sumitra Peries, the first Sri Lankan female filmmaker, contributed to the development of Sinhala cinema through “Gehenu Lamai”, “Ganga Addara”, “Yahaluvo”, “Maya”, “Sakman Maluwa”, “Vaishnavee” and many other cinematic creations.

Kala Keerthi Sumitra Peries also served as Sri Lanka’s ambassador to France, Spain and the United Nations in the late 1990s.

Sumitra started off her own cinema director debut with her first film “Gehenu Lamai”, which was a box office hit and managed to bag many awards at the film festivals of the time, whereas her next film “Ganga Addara” was another box office hit.

She has subsequently directed many more feature films which have all been subjected to international acclaim.

Fondly known as the “Poetess of Sinhala Cinema”, became the first director ever to shoot with the latest Red Epic camera in which her latest cinema venture “Vaishnavee” was shot in 2012 and laid the foundation for the next Generation Digital Cinema for Sri Lanka.

She was the beloved wife of veteran Sri Lankan film director Lester James Peries, who died on April 29, 2018.