Cause of death Heart attack Role Filmmaker Nationality Sri Lankan | Occupation Film director/writer Name Tissa Abeysekara | |
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Other names Ananda Tissa de Fonseka Children Aparna Nirmohi, Noriko Maduwanthi ,Charulatha Swethambari, Svetlana Kamalocini and Dimitra Abeysekara Spouse Asanka Monarawila Abeysekara (m. ?–2009) Parents Arthur Solomn de Fonseka, Agnus de Fonseka Movies The Treasure, Kusa Pabha, Uppalawanna | ||
Similar Lester James Peries, Sunil Ariyaratne, Premasiri Khemadasa Died 18 April 2009 (aged 69) Colombo, Sri Lanka | ||
Dr tissa abeysekara addresses the first media conferance of prathibaniketha
Tissa Ananda Abeysekara (7 May 1939 – 18 April 2009) was a Sri Lankan filmmaker, actor, writer, director, and screen playwriter. He is better known as a script writer for the cinema as well as a film director. In 1996, his book Bringing Tony Home won the prestigious Gratiaen Prize for the new creative writing in English language. He was the chief coordinator of FOSWAL in Sri Lanka and honoured awardee of SAARC Literary Award.
Contents
- Dr tissa abeysekara addresses the first media conferance of prathibaniketha
- Interview of prof carlo fonseka and sudath rohana on tissa abeysekara part2
- Early life
- Career
- Death
- National honours
- References
Interview of prof carlo fonseka and sudath rohana on tissa abeysekara part2
Early life
Tissa Ananda Abeysekera Guneratne de Fonseka was born in Maharagama, a railroad town 12 miles southeast of Colombo to Sir Arthur Solomn de Fonseka and Agnus de Fonseka (Nee Rupesighe). Tissa's grandfather was Sir Carolis de Fonseka, who was a Mudliar to the British and is the great-grandson of Sir Solomn de Fonseka, who was a Gate Mudliar, although Tissa hails from the House of Greenlands in Havlock town. Tissa's paternal uncle was Justice E.R. de Fonseka Puisne judge of the Supreme Court and Acting Chief Justice of Sri Lanka in 1960 and in 1962. Tissa's father was also cousins with the late Sir Susantha de Fonseka who was also Tissa's God father. Tissa's father declared bankruptcy in 1949. Due to poor health, Tissa was not sent to school until age 11. Tutored at home at first, he had his formal education at Pannipitiya Dharmapala Vidyalaya.
Career
Abeysekera began his career as a short-story writer, writing in Sinhala, when he was still a schoolboy, and he got some short stories published in the Dinamina and Janatha national newspapers. Barely out of his teens, he published a collection of Sinhala short stories, which received favourable reviews, bringing him praise from Ediriweera Sarachchandra.
A chance meeting with Dr. Lester James Peries in the early 1960s lured him to the cinema, where he remained for the next 40 years. He received co-credit for most of Peries's films, following the screenplay he wrote for Welikatara, Tissa was launched into the world of script wrting and recognized as Sri Lanka's foremost screenplay, dialog and script writer. Important screenplays were those for Nidhanaya and Welikathara. In addition, he made over 40 documentaries for the Government Film Unit before breaking through as a feature filmmaker with Karumakkarayo, based on Gunadasa Amarasekara's controversial novel. This was followed by Mahagedara (1983) and Viragaya (1988), based on Martin Wickramasinghe's novel, which was thought unfilmable: Viragaya is considered one of the finest Sinhala films ever made.
In 1996, his novella Bringing Tony Home won the Gratiaen Prize for the best piece of Creative Writing in English by a resident Sri Lankan. He continued writing mostly in English, bringing out another collection of three stories, In My Kingdom of the Sun and the Holy Peak.
He was chairman of the National Film Corporation from 1999 to 2001. He was subsequently the director of the Sri Lanka Television Training Institute. Abeysekara served on the Boards of the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation and the Aesthetic Institute of Sri Lanka, affiliated to the University of Kelaniya, as a council member of the University of Visual and Performing Arts, Colombo, and as a trustee of the National Heritage Trust of Sri Lanka. In 2007, he was awarded a honorary doctorate by University of Colombo.
Death
Abeysekara died on 18 April 2009, at Colombo National Hospital after having been admitted for a heart condition (Myocardial infarction). The BBC stated: "The void that he has left can only be understood if one looks at a washed away painting and understands and realizes that its beauty can never be glorified or recreated again." A memorial service was held at the Chapel of the Hope of the World, Ladies' college Colombo, to commemorate the anniversary of his death.