The award winning cinematic classic, “Sri Siddhartha Gautama”, shot on location in Sri Lanka, featuring well known Sri Lankan actors and directed by Sri Lankan Director, Saman Weeraman and produced by Navin Gooneratne, had its debut screening in China, at the Grand Buddha Monastery in Guangzhou on 18th December. The film played to a capacity audience of approximately 1000 that included Heads of Buddhist temples throughout Guangdong Province, government officials, diplomats and members of the general public.
The film, inspired by the spiritual odyssey of The Buddha has won international awards at the Delhi International Film Festival in India and the United Nations Buddhist Film Festival in Vietnam and broken box office records in Sri Lanka. Reviews from the Chinese audience were highly positive and it is likely that the film will return to China in the near future, to be seen by an even larger audience.
Audience members were delighted to have the opportunity to interact with the producer of the film, Navin Gooneratne and the lead actor, Gagan Malik, who were present at the screening.
Consulate General of Sri Lanka,
Guangzhou
23rd December 2014