Ruhunu Cinema

Between 1979 and 2010, Sri Lanka lost cinema attendance at a staggering rate, from 74.4 million admissions down to just 5.5 million, as civil war drove people away from cinemas and television viewership rose. As Sri Lanka became a security state, stricken by decades of political instability and economic hardship, it clipped the wings of the film art and industry. Theaters shuttered at a brutal pace. By 2010, only 168 cinemas remained across the entire country. Yet in Tangalle, Ruhunu’s doors still open and the projector still flickers. It’s one of the last single-screen holdouts in a nation that once had hundreds.