Entertainment

Russian Lit. Fest held in Colombo (Pics)

Published

1 year ago

November 23, 2023

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The Russian House in Colombo hosted the much anticipated annual Literature festival yesterday (Nov. 22), amid the excitement of Literary enthusiasts in the island.

Russian Literary greats Rasul Gamzatov, Leo Tolstoy and Ivan Turgenev were commemorated at the event.

A unique photo exhibition out front showcased the estates where the literary greats had lived and created their iconic pieces – Tolstoy’s Yasnaya Polyana and Turgenev’s Spasskoye-Lutovinovo. Photo archives were provided by the Director of the Russian House in Colombo, Madam Maria Popova, and the writer for the Russky Mir magazine, Irina Ivina.

Max Dimov, Deputy Chief Editor of “Moscow Media”, addressed the gathering with a video message.

During his visit to the Russian House in July, he had made friends among the founders of the Russian Literary Club, famous philologists, writers and translators Ranjana Senasinghe and Felix Fernando.

For the first time ever, the festival program also showcased the works of contemporary Russian authors in Sinhala.

Felix Fernando presented his translation of an international bestseller book by Evgeny Vodolazkin, ‘the most important living Russian writer’ according to the New Yorker. His novel “Laurus” was dubbed as ‘a new statesman book of the year 2016’. On top of that, Fernando also translated a touching New Year short story “I Won’t Tell!” by an extremely popular Russian author, producer, screenwriter and philanthropist Alexander Tsypkin.

Both authors addressed the audience with a video greeting, deeply touched by the interest in their works and happily responded to the invitation to visit Sri Lanka and personally meet the translator.

(Pics : FB of Russian House in Colombo)

Entertainment

Veteran singer Saman De Silva passes away

Published

14 hours ago

April 27, 2025

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Veteran singer Saman De Silva, a renowned and popular Baila artist, has passed away, family sources confirmed.

Saman De Silva was widely celebrated for his contribution to Baila music.

Among his popular songs are ‘Niyare Piya Nagala’, ‘Punchi Kurulu Kuduwe’, ‘Suroopi Viroopi’ (Epa Epa Rewatenu), ‘Santhosa Wenna Preethi Wenna’, ‘Thana Nilla Dige’, and ‘Pura Handa Neguna’, all of which remain favorites among audiences.

Throughout his musical career, Saman De Silva travelled extensively, performing in many countries around the world.

He was an alumnus of Nalanda College, Colombo.

Entertainment

Boyce Avenue arrives in Sri Lanka

Published

2 days ago

April 25, 2025

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Popular music group Boyce Avenue arrived in Sri Lanka last night (April 24) to perform at an upcoming concert.

The band landed at Katunayake Bandaranaike International Airport at 10:00 p.m. aboard AirAsia flight AK-047 from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

They were warmly welcomed by members of the Sri Lankan concert organizing team upon arrival.

The much-anticipated concert will take place at Waters Edge in Colombo, featuring performances by three Sri Lankan Western music groups alongside Boyce Avenue.

Entertainment

Ryan Gosling to star in new Star Wars film

Published

1 week ago

April 19, 2025

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Ryan Gosling is to star in a new Star Wars film, which is set to be released in two years’ time.

The new Disney project is titled Star Wars: Starfighter, and will be directed by Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy.

“The reality is that this script is just so good. It has such a great story with great and original characters,” said Barbie actor Gosling at a Star Wars Celebration in Tokyo.

“It’s filled with so much heart and adventure, and there just really is not a more perfect filmmaker for this particular story than Shawn.”

Gosling’s lifelong passion for the franchise was on display at the event, which showed his childhood Star Wars bedsheets on screen.

“You can see from the picture, I guess I was probably dreaming about Star Wars before I even saw the film,” he said.

“And it’s probably framed my idea of what a movie even was,” he said.

Set to be released on 7 May 2027, the film is a standalone story and won’t follow the main plotline of the Skywalker family and recent sequels starring Daisy Ridley.

Not many details about the storyline have been revealed yet.

According to the Star Wars website, it is “set approximately five years after the events of Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker” with Gosling playing a new character.

The new space adventure is “not a prequel, not sequel, it’s a new adventure. It’s set in a period of time that we haven’t seen explored yet”, added Levy.

The next Star Wars film release is set to be The Mandalorian And Grogu, a sequel to The Mandalorian starring Pedro Pascal and directed by Jon Favreau.

Gosling was nominated at the Oscars for his portrayal of Ken in 2023’s Barbie blockbuster, which also starred Margot Robbie.

The Canadian actor, known for roles in La La Land and The Notebook, also starred as a stuntman in last year’s The Fall Guy.

(BBC News)