COLOMBO (News 1st): The 19th Presidential Cinema Awards Ceremony was held under the auspices of President Maithripala Sirisena at the Nelum Pokuna Theater in Colombo last evening (July 26). The awards ceremony was inaugurated by President Maithripala Sirisena and the Deputy Leader of the United National Party and Minister of Housing, Construction and Cultural Affairs, Sajith Premadasa.
President Sirisena presented awards to 27 outstanding performers from 79 films screened from 2016 to 2018, with eleven Purogami Awards, Swarnasinghe Awards, and the Vishwakeerthi Award.
- Dasun Pathirana received the award for Best Actor in 2016 for his performance in the movie “Motorbicycle” presented by M Entertainment for Sirasa Movies.
- The award for Best Supporting Actress for the year 2016 was awarded to both Aruni Rajapakse featured in the movie ”Pattini” and Veena Jayakody for her performance in the movie ”Motorbicycle”
- In addition, Samanali Fonseka was awarded the Special Jury Award for her performance in the movie Motorbicycle and Kalana Gunasekera was awarded a Merit Award.
- Jayalath Manoratne was awarded the Special Jury Award for his performance in the movie A-Level presented by M Entertainment for Sirasa Movies 2017.
- Sachira Wijesinghe was awarded a Merit Award for his role in the movie ”A-Level”, while Vinumi Vinsadi was also awarded a jury evaluation certificate for her role in the film Dharma Yudhaya.
- David Karunaratne received a Jury Certificate for his performance in the Movie ”Goal” Produced by M Entertainment and Nayana Dharshani Perera was awarded the Presidents award at the Presidential Awards ceremony.
- The award for the Most Popular and spoken movie of 2017 was awarded to Dharma Yudhaya Produced by MTV.
