The Asian Studies program at UNLV will present the award-winning film "Pura Handa Kaluwara (Death on a Full Moon Day)" at 7:30 p.m. June 22 in the Classroom Building Complex, Room A-106.

Joe Abeywickrema, who won the Best Actor Award at the Singapore International Film Festival for his work in this film, will appear at the UNLV screening.

"Pura Handa Kaluwara," a Sinhalese-language film with English subtitles, was written and directed by Prasanna Vithanage. The film dramatically depicts how the small villages of Sri Lanka have been affected by an 18-year civil war between the government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Abeywickrema portrays a blind, poverty-stricken villager in Sri Lanka whose son has been forced to join the army.

The Sinhalese government and military, fearing the film would hamper the army's recruitment of rural youth and focus public attention on social and political problems in Sri Lanka, suspended its screening indefinitely. Vithanage appealed to the courts. The Sri Lanka Supreme Court eventually directed the government to lift the ban and awarded the director compensation and damages.

"Pura Handa Kaluwara" has won numerous awards, including the Grand Prix Golden Unicorn for Best Feature Film at the Amiens International Film Festival, the International Film Critics Federation Award at the Fribourg (Switzerland) International Film Festival, and the Silver Screen Award for Best Asian Film at the Singapore International Film Festival in 1999.

For more information, contact Karu Hangawatte at 895-0243 or Felicia Campbell at 895-3457.