1.
Geography of Sri Lanka
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Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in South Asia near south-east India. Sri Lanka has maritime borders with India to the northwest and the Maldives to the southwest, Sri Lankas documented history spans 3,000 years, with evidence of pre-historic human settlements dating back to at least 125,000 years. Its geographic location and deep harbours made it of strategic importance from the time of the ancient Silk Road through to World War II. Sri Lanka was known from the beginning of British colonial rule until 1972 as Ceylon, Sri Lankas recent history has been marred by a thirty-year civil war which decisively ended when the Sri Lankan military defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009. A diverse and multicultural country, Sri Lanka is home to many religions, ethnic groups, in addition to the majority Sinhalese, it is home to large groups of Sri Lankan and Indian Tamils, Moors, Burghers, Malays, Kaffirs and the aboriginal Vedda. Sri Lanka has a rich Buddhist heritage, and the first known Buddhist writings of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka is a republic and a unitary state governed by a semi-presidential system. The legislative capital, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, is a suburb of the capital and largest city. Along with the Maldives, Sri Lanka is one of the two countries in South Asia that are rated among high human development on the Human Development Index. In antiquity, Sri Lanka was known to travellers by a variety of names, according to the Mahavamsa, the legendary Prince Vijaya named the land Tambapanni, because his followers hands were reddened by the red soil of the area. In Hindu mythology, such as the Mahabharata, the island was referred to as Lankā, in Tamil, the island is referred to as Eelam. Ancient Greek geographers called it Taprobanā or Taprobanē from the word Tambapanni, as a British crown colony, the island was known as Ceylon, it achieved independence as the Dominion of Ceylon in 1948. The country is known in Sinhalese as Śrī Laṃkā and in Tamil as Ilaṅkai, in 1972, its formal name was changed to Free, Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka. Later in 1978 it was changed to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, as the name Ceylon still appears in the names of a number of organisations, the Sri Lankan government announced in 2011 a plan to rename all those over which it has authority. The pre-history of Sri Lanka goes back 125,000 years, the era spans the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and early Iron Ages. Among the Paleolithic human settlements discovered in Sri Lanka, Pahiyangala and it is said that Kubera was overthrown by his demon stepbrother Ravana, the powerful emperor who built a mythical flying machine named Dandu Monara. The modern city of Wariyapola is described as Ravanas airport, early inhabitants of Sri Lanka were probably ancestors of the Vedda people, an indigenous people numbering approximately 2,500 living in modern-day Sri Lanka. According to the Mahāvamsa, a written in Pāḷi, the original inhabitants of Sri Lanka are the Yakshas and Nagas. Ancient cemeteries that were used before 600BC and other signs of advanced civilization has also discovered in Sri Lanka
2.
Demographics of Sri Lanka
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Sri Lanka is an island in the Indian Ocean also called Ceylon and many other names. It is about the size of Ireland and it is about 28 kilometres off the south-eastern coast of India with a population of about 20 million. Density is highest in the south west where Colombo, the main port. The net population growth is about 0. 7%, Sri Lanka is ethnically, linguistically, and religiously diverse. According to the 2012 census the population of Sri Lanka was 20,359,439, the population had grown by 5,512,689 since the 1981 census, equivalent to an annual growth rate of 1. 1%. 3,704,470 lived in urban sectors - areas governed by municipal,5,131,666 of the population were aged 14 or under whilst 2,525,573 were aged 60 or over, leaving a working age population of 12,702,700. The mean age was 32 years and the age was 31 years. The sex ratio was 94 males per 100 females, the fertility rate for married females aged 15 or over was 2.65 live births. There were 5,264,282 households of which 3,986,236 were headed by males and 1,278,046 were headed by females. Of the 15,227,773 aged 15 or over,10,322,105 were married,3,927,602 were never married,792,947 were widowed and 185,119 were divorced or separated. Of those aged 15 or over,7,857,370 were economically active,4,199,558 did housework,1,431,105 were students,914,934 were unable to work and 346,084 were pensioners. 521,938 of the economically active were unemployed,604,540 Sri Lankans were living aboard for more than six months but were intending to return to Sri Lanka, mostly in the Gulf states. The overall literacy rate for those aged 10 and over was 95. 7%, of the 18,615,577 aged 5 or over,499,563 had received a higher education qualification,2,293,841 had passed G. C. E. O/L and 700,419 had no formal schooling, the remaining 11,962,352 had left school with no qualifications or were currently at school. The Sinhalese make up 74. 9% of the population and are concentrated in the densely populated south-west, the Sri Lanka Tamils, who live predominantly in the north and east of the island, form the largest minority group at 11. 1% of the population. The Moors, descendants of Arab traders that settled in Sri Lanka and married local women and they are mostly concentrated in urban areas in the southern parts of the island with substantial populations in the Central and Eastern provinces. During times of Portuguese colonization, Moors were persecuted, and many forced to retreat to the central highlands, there are also Indian Tamils who form a distinct ethnic group comprising 4. 1% of the population. The British brought them to Sri Lanka in the 19th century as tea and rubber plantation workers, and they remain concentrated in the tea country of south-central Sri Lanka
3.
Film director
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A film director is a person who directs the making of a film. Generally, a film director controls a films artistic and dramatic aspects, the director has a key role in choosing the cast members, production design, and the creative aspects of filmmaking. Under European Union law, the director is viewed as the author of the film, the film director gives direction to the cast and crew and creates an overall vision through which a film eventually becomes realized, or noticed. Directors need to be able to mediate differences in creative visions, there are many pathways to becoming a film director. Some film directors started as screenwriters, cinematographers, film editors or actors, other film directors have attended a film school. Some outline a general plotline and let the actors dialogue, while others control every aspect. Some directors also write their own screenplays or collaborate on screenplays with long-standing writing partners, some directors edit or appear in their films, or compose the music score for their films. Film directors create a vision through which a film eventually becomes realized/noticed. Realizing this vision includes overseeing the artistic and technical elements of production, as well as directing the shooting timetable. This entails organizing the crew in such a way as to achieve their vision of the film. This requires skills of leadership, as well as the ability to maintain a singular focus even in the stressful. Moreover, it is necessary to have an eye to frame shots and to give precise feedback to cast and crew, thus. Thus the director ensures that all involved in the film production are working towards an identical vision for the completed film. The set of varying challenges he or she has to tackle has been described as a jigsaw puzzle with egos. It adds to the pressure that the success of a film can influence when, omnipresent are the boundaries of the films budget. Additionally, the director may also have to ensure an intended age rating, thus, the position of film director is widely considered to be a highly stressful and demanding one. It has been said that 20-hour days are not unusual, under European Union law, the film director is considered the author or one of the authors of a film, largely as a result of the influence of auteur theory. Auteur theory is a film criticism concept that holds that a directors film reflects the directors personal creative vision
4.
Screenwriter
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One famous screenwriter is Jack Rosenthal, who has written for various TV shows over the years, including Londons Burning and Coronation Street. No education is required to become a screenwriter, just good storytelling abilities. Screenwriters are not hired employees, they are contracted freelancers, most, if not all, screenwriters start their careers writing on speculation, meaning they write without being hired or paid for it. If such a script is sold, it is called a spec script, what separates a professional screenwriter from an amateur screenwriter is that professional screenwriters are usually represented by a talent agency. Also, professional screenwriters do not often work for free, whereas amateur screenwriters will often work for free and are considered writers in training, spec scripts are usually penned by unknown professional screenwriters and amateur screenwriters. There are a legion of would-be screenwriters who attempt to enter the industry but it often takes years of trial-and-error, failure. In Writing Screenplays that Sell, Michael Hague writes Screenplays have become, for the last half of century, closet writers who used to dream of the glory of getting into print now dream of seeing their story on the big or small screen. Every screenplay and teleplay begins with a thought or idea, and screenwriters use those ideas to write scripts, with the intention of selling them and having them produced. In some cases, the script is based on a property, such as a book or persons life story. The majority of the time, a film project gets initiated by a screenwriter and because they initiated the project and these are referred to as exclusive assignments or pitched assignments. Screenwriters who often pitch new projects, whether original or an adaptation, when word is put out about a project a film studio, production company, or producer wants done, these are referred to as open assignments. In situations where screenwriters are competing for an assignment, more established writers will usually win these assignments. A screenwriter can also be approached and personally offered a writing assignment, many screenwriters also work as full or part-time script doctors, attempting to better a script to suit the desires of a director or studio. For instance, studio management may have a complaint that the motivations of the characters are unclear or that the dialogue is weak, script-doctoring can be quite lucrative, especially for the better known writers. David Mamet and John Sayles, for instance, fund the movies they direct themselves, usually from their own screenplays, by writing and doctoring scripts for others. In fact, some writers make very profitable careers out of being the ninth or tenth writer to work on a piece, in many cases, working on projects that never see exposure to an audience of any size. Many up and coming screenwriters also ghost write projects and allow more established screenwriters to take credit for the project to increase the chances of it getting picked up. After a screenwriter finishes a project, he or she pairs with a representative, such as a producer, director, literary agent, entertainment lawyer
5.
Entrepreneurship
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What appears as a real opportunity ex ante might actually be a non-opportunity or one that cannot be actualized by entrepreneurs lacking the necessary business skills, financial or social capital. Traditionally, an entrepreneur has been defined as a person who starts, organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk. Rather than working as an employee, an entrepreneur runs a business and assumes all the risk and reward of a given business venture, idea. The entrepreneur is commonly seen as a leader and innovator of new ideas. They act as the manager and oversee the launch and growth of an enterprise, Entrepreneurship is the process by which an individual identifies a business opportunity and acquires and deploys the necessary resources required for its exploitation. For Schumpeter, the changes and dynamic disequilibrium brought on by the innovating entrepreneur, the ‘norm’ of a healthy economy. Entrepreneurial spirit is characterized by innovation and risk-taking, for example, in the 2000s, the field of social entrepreneurship has been identified, in which entrepreneurs combine business activities with humanitarian, environmental or community goals. In the 2010s, entrepreneurship can be studied in college or university as part of the disciplines of management or business administration, Entrepreneur, is a loanword from French. First used in 1723, today the term entrepreneur implies qualities of leadership, initiative, economist Robert Reich has called team-building, leadership, and management ability essential qualities for the entrepreneur. Historically the study of entrepreneurship reaches back to the work in the late 17th and early 18th centuries of Richard Cantillon and Adam Smith, which was foundational to classical economics. In the 20th century, entrepreneurship was studied by Joseph Schumpeter in the 1930s and other Austrian economists such as Carl Menger, Ludwig von Mises, the term entrepreneurship was coined around the 1920s, while the loan from French of the word entrepreneur dates to the 1850s. According to Schumpeter, an entrepreneur is willing and able to convert a new idea or invention into a successful innovation, thus, creative destruction is largely responsible for long-term economic growth. The idea that leads to economic growth is an interpretation of the residual in endogenous growth theory. For Schumpeter, entrepreneurship resulted in new industries and in new combinations of currently existing inputs, Schumpeters initial example of this was the combination of a steam engine and then current wagon making technologies to produce the horseless carriage. In this case the innovation, the car, was transformational and it did not immediately replace the horse-drawn carriage, but in time, incremental improvements reduced the cost and improved the technology, leading to the modern auto industry. Despite Schumpeters early 20th-century contributions, traditional microeconomic theory did not formally consider the entrepreneur in its theoretical frameworks, in this treatment, the entrepreneur was an implied but unspecified actor, consistent with the concept of the entrepreneur being the agent of x-efficiency. For Schumpeter, the entrepreneur did not bear risk, the capitalist did, Schumpeter was of the opinion that entrepreneurs shift the Production Possibility Curve to a higher level using innovations. Cantillon emphasized the willingness of the entrepreneur to assume risk and to deal with uncertainty, thus, he draws attention to the function of the entrepreneur, and distinguishes clearly between the function of the entrepreneur and the owner who provides the money
6.
Filmmaking
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Filmmaking is the process of making a film. Filmmaking takes place in places around the world in a range of economic, social, and political contexts. Typically, it involves a number of people, and can take from a few months to several years to complete. Film production consists of five stages, Development, The first stage in which the ideas for the film are created, rights to books/plays are bought etc. Financing for the project has to be sought and greenlit, pre-production, Preparations are made for the shoot, in which cast and film crew are hired, locations are selected and sets are built. Production, The raw elements for the film are recorded during the film shoot, post-production, The images, sound, and visual effects of the recorded film are edited. Distribution, The finished film is distributed and screened in cinemas and released to home video. In this stage, the project producer selects a story, which may come from a book, play, another film, true story, video game, comic book, graphic novel, or an original idea, etc. After identifying a theme or underlying message, the works with writers to prepare a synopsis. Next they produce an outline, which breaks the story down into one-paragraph scenes that concentrate on dramatic structure. Then, they prepare a treatment, a 25-to-30-page description of the story, its mood and this usually has little dialogue and stage direction, but often contains drawings that help visualize key points. Another way is to produce a scriptment once a synopsis is produced, next, a screenwriter writes a screenplay over a period of several months. The screenwriter may rewrite it several times to improve dramatization, clarity, structure, characters, dialogue, however, producers often skip the previous steps and develop submitted screenplays which investors, studios, and other interested parties assess through a process called script coverage. A film distributor may be contacted at a stage to assess the likely market. All these factors imply a certain appeal of the film to a possible audience, not all films make a profit from the theatrical release alone, so film companies take DVD sales and worldwide distribution rights into account. The producer and screenwriter prepare a film pitch, or treatment and they will also pitch the film to actors and directors in order to attach them to the project. Many projects fail to move beyond this stage and enter so-called development hell, if a pitch succeeds, a film receives a green light, meaning someone offers financial backing, typically a major film studio, film council, or independent investor. The parties involved negotiate a deal and sign contracts, once all parties have met and the deal has been set, the film may proceed into the pre-production period
7.
Lionair
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Lionair was an airline with its head office in the Asian Aviation Centre in Sri Lanka on the grounds of Ratmalana Airport near Colombo. It was a privately owned charter operator and its main base was Ratmalana International Airport. The airline was a brainchild of Chandran Rutnam and was established in October 1993, the airline started its operations on 24 October 1994. Initially it was owned by Lionvert Inc USA, a United States-based investors group, Lionvert sold its stake in late 1997. Lionair suspended domestic services when an Antonov An-24 aircraft went missing shortly after it took off from Jaffna in 1998, Lionair had operated services between Colombo and Jaffna since October 1996, until the suspension of services in 1998. They had hoped to resume services in November 1998, in 2006 Connexus Air joined with Lionair to assist in the lease and setup of domestic operations using a BAe Jetstream 41 aircraft. It was planned to start the first service by November 2006, the aircraft departed Jaffna-Palaly Air Force Base on a flight to Colombo and disappeared from radar screens just after the pilot had reported depressurization. Initial reports indicated that the plane had been shot down by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels, all 7 crew and 48 passengers were killed
8.
Asian Aviation Centre (Sri Lanka)
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Asian Aviation Centre is a private aerospace engineering and flying training academy in Sri Lanka. Lionair was the parent company of AAC, which has now ceased to operate, the mastermind of the Asian Aviation Centre is veteran film producer and art lover Chandran Rutnam who dreamt of conquering the aviation field. Chandran Rutnam stated, I was the sort of guy who would go to an airport, I remember as a kid, I went to the Colombo port and watched the ships coming and going out. I do not know whether it was wanderlust or freedom of movement, I do not know which one it was. Some years ago a friend of mine and I decided that we should have an airline and he further stated how his fascination with aircraft started, with hiring helicopters from Air Force to do a film on Vietnam. I was absolutely fascinated by these helicopters, AAC is one of the few privileged Aerospace Academies in the world with an Airline to have a hands on practice for students. In the hope of realizing his dream, Rutnam explored the possibility of procuring helicopters with a like minded friend and found out that it was beyond their means. So, the idea was put on back burner for some time, however, Rutnam did not completely give up the idea. With a tip off on those two Russian built helicopters in Maldives, enthusiastic Rutnam moved into action and bought the two helicopters with the intention of starting a helicopter service. With aircraft bought from Kazakhstan, Lion Air commenced its operation in 1994, since flying was banned, Rutnam decided to set up a flying school with the resources at hand. The school started as an Engineering College and it always occurred while I was having meals, occasionally, the captain would come out of the cockpit and say that I graduated from your school. It was a feeling, that students are finding in this place. So it was one of the most rewarding enterprises that I have been involved in, educating the youth of this country, said Chandran Ratnam with a sense of justifiable elation. At a time, when Lion Air was operating from Ratmalana within a space, Chandran Rutnam noticed a lovely. Soon Rutnam found out that the company was for sale and Rutnam bought the company, the flight school which had been established in 1985, was incorporated into the Engineering College, marking the birth of Asian Aviation Centre. The AAC covers almost all the aspects of Aeronautical Engineering from re-building aircraft to the mechanisms of aircraft. The AAC also offers a host of facilities for students including a tennis court. Heterogeneous students population consists of local and foreign students, Aerospace for All Asian Aviation Centre recently started a unique program called Aerospace for All program to facilitate those who are interested in aviation
9.
Sri Lanka
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Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in South Asia near south-east India. Sri Lanka has maritime borders with India to the northwest and the Maldives to the southwest, Sri Lankas documented history spans 3,000 years, with evidence of pre-historic human settlements dating back to at least 125,000 years. Its geographic location and deep harbours made it of strategic importance from the time of the ancient Silk Road through to World War II. Sri Lanka was known from the beginning of British colonial rule until 1972 as Ceylon, Sri Lankas recent history has been marred by a thirty-year civil war which decisively ended when the Sri Lankan military defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009. A diverse and multicultural country, Sri Lanka is home to many religions, ethnic groups, in addition to the majority Sinhalese, it is home to large groups of Sri Lankan and Indian Tamils, Moors, Burghers, Malays, Kaffirs and the aboriginal Vedda. Sri Lanka has a rich Buddhist heritage, and the first known Buddhist writings of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka is a republic and a unitary state governed by a semi-presidential system. The legislative capital, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, is a suburb of the capital and largest city. Along with the Maldives, Sri Lanka is one of the two countries in South Asia that are rated among high human development on the Human Development Index. In antiquity, Sri Lanka was known to travellers by a variety of names, according to the Mahavamsa, the legendary Prince Vijaya named the land Tambapanni, because his followers hands were reddened by the red soil of the area. In Hindu mythology, such as the Mahabharata, the island was referred to as Lankā, in Tamil, the island is referred to as Eelam. Ancient Greek geographers called it Taprobanā or Taprobanē from the word Tambapanni, as a British crown colony, the island was known as Ceylon, it achieved independence as the Dominion of Ceylon in 1948. The country is known in Sinhalese as Śrī Laṃkā and in Tamil as Ilaṅkai, in 1972, its formal name was changed to Free, Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka. Later in 1978 it was changed to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, as the name Ceylon still appears in the names of a number of organisations, the Sri Lankan government announced in 2011 a plan to rename all those over which it has authority. The pre-history of Sri Lanka goes back 125,000 years, the era spans the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and early Iron Ages. Among the Paleolithic human settlements discovered in Sri Lanka, Pahiyangala and it is said that Kubera was overthrown by his demon stepbrother Ravana, the powerful emperor who built a mythical flying machine named Dandu Monara. The modern city of Wariyapola is described as Ravanas airport, early inhabitants of Sri Lanka were probably ancestors of the Vedda people, an indigenous people numbering approximately 2,500 living in modern-day Sri Lanka. According to the Mahāvamsa, a written in Pāḷi, the original inhabitants of Sri Lanka are the Yakshas and Nagas. Ancient cemeteries that were used before 600BC and other signs of advanced civilization has also discovered in Sri Lanka
10.
Hollywood
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Hollywood is an ethnically diverse, densely populated neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. It is notable as the home of the U. S. film industry, including several of its studios, and its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the industry. Hollywood was a community in 1870 and was incorporated as a municipality in 1903. It was consolidated with the city of Los Angeles in 1910, in 1853, one adobe hut stood in Nopalera, named for the Mexican Nopal cactus indigenous to the area. By 1870, an agricultural community flourished, the area was known as the Cahuenga Valley, after the pass in the Santa Monica Mountains immediately to the north. According to the diary of H. J. Whitley, known as the Father of Hollywood, along came a Chinese man in a wagon carrying wood. The man got out of the wagon and bowed, the Chinese man was asked what he was doing and replied, I holly-wood, meaning hauling wood. H. J. Whitley had an epiphany and decided to name his new town Hollywood, Holly would represent England and wood would represent his Scottish heritage. Whitley had already started over 100 towns across the western United States, Whitley arranged to buy the 500-acre E. C. Hurd ranch and disclosed to him his plans for the land. They agreed on a price and Hurd agreed to sell at a later date, before Whitley got off the ground with Hollywood, plans for the new town had spread to General Harrison Gray Otis, Hurds wife, eastern adjacent ranch co-owner Daeida Wilcox, and others. Daeida Wilcox may have learned of the name Hollywood from Ivar Weid, her neighbor in Holly Canyon and she recommended the same name to her husband, Harvey. In August 1887, Wilcox filed with the Los Angeles County Recorders office a deed and parcel map of property he had sold named Hollywood, Wilcox wanted to be the first to record it on a deed. The early real-estate boom busted that year, yet Hollywood began its slow growth. By 1900, the region had a post office, newspaper, hotel, Los Angeles, with a population of 102,479 lay 10 miles east through the vineyards, barley fields, and citrus groves. A single-track streetcar line ran down the middle of Prospect Avenue from it, but service was infrequent, the old citrus fruit-packing house was converted into a livery stable, improving transportation for the inhabitants of Hollywood. The Hollywood Hotel was opened in 1902 by H. J. Whitley who was a president of the Los Pacific Boulevard, having finally acquired the Hurd ranch and subdivided it, Whitley built the hotel to attract land buyers. Flanking the west side of Highland Avenue, the structure fronted on Prospect Avenue, the hotel was to become internationally known and was the center of the civic and social life and home of the stars for many years. Whitleys company developed and sold one of the residential areas
11.
Malaysia
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Malaysia is a federal constitutional monarchy located in Southeast Asia. Peninsular Malaysia shares a land and maritime border with Thailand and maritime borders with Singapore, Vietnam, East Malaysia shares land and maritime borders with Brunei and Indonesia and a maritime border with the Philippines and Vietnam. The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government, with a population of over 30 million, Malaysia is the 44th most populous country. The southernmost point of continental Eurasia, Tanjung Piai, is in Malaysia, located in the tropics, Malaysia is one of 17 megadiverse countries on earth, with large numbers of endemic species. Malaysia has its origins in the Malay kingdoms present in the area which, from the 18th century, the first British territories were known as the Straits Settlements, whose establishment was followed by the Malay kingdoms becoming British protectorates. The territories on Peninsular Malaysia were first unified as the Malayan Union in 1946, Malaya was restructured as the Federation of Malaya in 1948, and achieved independence on 31 August 1957. Malaya united with North Borneo, Sarawak, and Singapore on 16 September 1963 to become Malaysia, less than two years later in 1965, Singapore was expelled from the federation. The country is multi-ethnic and multi-cultural, which plays a role in politics. About half the population is ethnically Malay, with minorities of Malaysian Chinese, Malaysian Indians. The constitution declares Islam the state religion while allowing freedom of religion for non-Muslims, the government system is closely modelled on the Westminster parliamentary system and the legal system is based on common law. The head of state is the king, known as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and he is an elected monarch chosen from the hereditary rulers of the nine Malay states every five years. The head of government is the prime minister, since its independence, Malaysia has had one of the best economic records in Asia, with its GDP growing at an average of 6. 5% per annum for almost 50 years. The economy has traditionally been fuelled by its resources, but is expanding in the sectors of science, tourism, commerce. Today, Malaysia has a newly industrialised market economy, ranked third largest in Southeast Asia, the name Malaysia is a combination of the word Malay and the Latin-Greek suffix -sia/-σία. The word melayu in Malay may derive from the Tamil words malai and ur meaning mountain and city, land, malayadvipa was the word used by ancient Indian traders when referring to the Malay Peninsula. Whether or not it originated from these roots, the word melayu or mlayu may have used in early Malay/Javanese to mean to steadily accelerate or run. This term was applied to describe the current of the river Melayu in Sumatra. The name was adopted by the Melayu Kingdom that existed in the seventh century on Sumatra
12.
Paramount Pictures
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Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film studio based in Hollywood, California, that has been a subsidiary of the American media conglomerate Viacom since 1994. In 1916, film producer Adolph Zukor contracted 22 actors and actresses and these fortunate few would become the first movie stars. Paramount Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America, in 2014, Paramount Pictures became the first major Hollywood studio to distribute all of its films in digital form only. Paramount is the fifth oldest surviving studio in the world after the French studios Gaumont Film Company and Pathé, followed by the Nordisk Film company. It is the last major film studio headquartered in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. Paramount Pictures dates its existence from the 1912 founding date of the Famous Players Film Company, hungarian-born founder, Adolph Zukor, who had been an early investor in nickelodeons, saw that movies appealed mainly to working-class immigrants. With partners Daniel Frohman and Charles Frohman he planned to offer feature-length films that would appeal to the class by featuring the leading theatrical players of the time. By mid-1913, Famous Players had completed five films, and Zukor was on his way to success and its first film was Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth, which starred Sarah Bernhardt. That same year, another aspiring producer, Jesse L. Lasky, opened his Lasky Feature Play Company with money borrowed from his brother-in-law, Samuel Goldfish, the Lasky company hired as their first employee a stage director with virtually no film experience, Cecil B. DeMille, who would find a site in Hollywood, near Los Angeles, for his first feature film. Hodkinson and actor, director, producer Hobart Bosworth had started production of a series of Jack London movies, Paramount was the first successful nationwide distributor, until this time, films were sold on a statewide or regional basis which had proved costly to film producers. Also, Famous Players and Lasky were privately owned while Paramount was a corporation, in 1916, Zukor maneuvered a three-way merger of his Famous Players, the Lasky Company, and Paramount. Zukor and Lasky bought Hodkinson out of Paramount, and merged the three companies into one, with only the exhibitor-owned First National as a rival, Famous Players-Lasky and its Paramount Pictures soon dominated the business. It was this system that gave Paramount a leading position in the 1920s and 1930s, the driving force behind Paramounts rise was Zukor. In 1926, Zukor hired independent producer B. P. Schulberg and they purchased the Robert Brunton Studios, a 26-acre facility at 5451 Marathon Street for US$1 million. In 1927, Famous Players-Lasky took the name Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation, three years later, because of the importance of the Publix Theatres, it became Paramount Publix Corporation. In 1928, Paramount began releasing Inkwell Imps, animated cartoons produced by Max, the Fleischers, veterans in the animation industry, were among the few animation producers capable of challenging the prominence of Walt Disney. The Paramount newsreel series Paramount News ran from 1927 to 1957, Paramount was also one of the first Hollywood studios to release what were known at that time as talkies, and in 1929, released their first musical, Innocents of Paris
13.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
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Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a 1984 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. It is the installment in the Indiana Jones franchise and a sequel to the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark. Executive producer and co-writer George Lucas decided to make the film a prequel as he did not want the Nazis to be the villains again, after three rejected plot devices, Lucas wrote a film treatment that resembled the films final storyline. The film was released to success but mixed reviews, which criticized its violence. However, critical opinion has improved since 1984, citing the films intensity, some of the films cast and crew, including Spielberg, retrospectively view the film in a negative light, partly due to the film being the darkest and most overtly violent Indiana Jones film. The film has also been the subject of controversy due to its portrayal of India, in 1935, Indiana Jones narrowly escapes the clutches of Lao Che, a crime boss in Shanghai, China. With his 11-year-old Chinese sidekick Short Round and the nightclub singer Willie Scott in tow, Indy flees Shanghai on an airplane that, unknown to them, is owned by Lao. While the three of sleep on the plane, the pilots parachute out, and they leave the plane to crash over the Himalayas while dumping its fuel. Indy, Shorty, and Willie discover this and narrowly manage to escape by jumping out of the plane on an inflatable raft, during the journey to Pankot, Indy hypothesizes that the stone may be one of the five fabled Sankara stones that promise fortune and glory. The trio receive a welcome from the Prime Minister of Pankot Palace. The visitors are allowed to stay the night as guests, during which they attend a lavish but grotesque banquet given by the young prince Maharaja, Chattar Lal rebuffs Indys questions about the villagers claims and his theory that the ancient Thuggee cult is responsible for their troubles. Later that night, Indy is attacked by an assassin, leading Indy, Willie and they discover a series of tunnels hidden behind a statue in Willies room and set out to explore them, overcoming a number of booby-traps along the way. The trio eventually reach a temple where the Thugs worship Kali with human sacrifice. They watch as the Thugs chain one of their victims in a cage and slowly lower him into a fire pit. They discover that the Thugs, led by their high priest Mola Ram, are in possession of three of the five Sankara stones, and have enslaved the children to mine for the two stones. As Indy tries to retrieve the stones, he, Willie, Indy is whipped and forced to drink a potion called the Blood of Kali, which places him in a trance-like state where he begins to mindlessly serve the Thugs. Willie, meanwhile, is kept as a sacrifice, while Shorty is put to work in the mines alongside the enslaved children. Shorty breaks free and escapes back into the temple where he burns Indy with a torch, after defeating Chattar Lal, Indy stops Willies cage and cranks it out of the pit just in time before it has a chance to enter the fire
14.
Indochine (film)
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Indochine is a 1992 French film set in colonial French Indochina during the 1930s to 1950s. It is the story of Éliane Devries, a French plantation owner, the screenplay was written by novelist Érik Orsenna, scriptwriters Louis Gardel, Catherine Cohen, and Régis Wargnier, who also directed the film. The film stars Catherine Deneuve, Vincent Pérez, Linh Dan Pham, Jean Yanne, the film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 65th Academy Awards. After her best friends from the Nguyễn Dynasty die in a plane crash, Guy Asselin, the head of the French security services in Indochina, courts Éliane, but she rejects him and raises Camille alone giving her the education of a privileged European through her teens. Just after Éliane wins a wager against the naval commanders sculling team, she finds herself bidding against a young French Navy lieutenant, Jean-Baptiste Le Guen, on the same painting at an auction. She is flustered when he challenges her publicly and surprised when he turns up at her plantation days later, soon they are enveloped in a torrid affair. Out and about in the city, Jean-Baptiste witnesses the escape, Camille and her classmates are walking nearby, and as the prisoner falls, he knocks her unconscious, leaving her covered with his blood. Jean-Baptiste brings her indoors and cleans off the blood, cutting off her dress in the process, Camille wakes up in his arms and falls in love with him at first sight, believing that he has saved her life. Word about the affair gets out, and Camille is taunted at school, through her connections with high-ranking officials in the navy, Éliane has Jean-Baptiste transferred to Haiphong to protect Camille from getting hurt. Jean-Baptiste confronts Éliane about this at a Christmas party at her place, as a result, instead of Haiphong, Jean-Baptiste is sent to a remote French military base on the notorious Dragon Islet in northern Indochina. Against her better judgment, Éliane allows Camille to become engaged to Tanh, the marriage is arranged by Tanhs wealthy, merchant mother. But the day after the engagement, Tanh helps Camille leave to look for Jean-Baptiste up north, Camille travels and reaches Dragon Islet with a Vietnamese family seeking a term of indenture in the south, but they are killed by a French naval officer. When Jean-Baptiste arrives at the scene and demands that the officer tell him what happened, Jean-Baptiste spots Camille among the laborers and leads her away. The French sailors do not object thinking their superior is taking a congaie, as Camille sees her traveling companions dead, she attacks the French officer shooting him in the struggle. This puts a price on the heads of both Camille and Jean-Baptiste, who stands by her, Camille and Jean-Baptiste escape from Dragon Islet and sail away through the Gulf of Tonkin for several days without food or water. When they come ashore, a Communist theater troupe rescues them, after several months have passed, and Camille has become pregnant with Jean-Baptistes child, they are told they must leave the valley, because the Communists have more important people to hide. Tanh, now a high-ranking Communist operative, arranges for the troupe to smuggle the lovers into China. Guy attempts to use operatives to put down the insurrection and also arranges for French agents to look for Camille
15.
Steven Spielberg
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Steven Allan Spielberg, KBE, OMRI is an American director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the pioneers of the New Hollywood era. He is also one of the co-founders of DreamWorks Studios, in a career spanning more than four decades, Spielbergs films have spanned many themes and genres. His other films include Jurassic Park, A. I, artificial Intelligence, and War of the Worlds. Spielberg won the Academy Award for Best Director for Schindlers List and Saving Private Ryan, three of Spielbergs films—Jaws, E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and Jurassic Park—achieved box office records, originated and came to epitomize the blockbuster film. The unadjusted gross of all Spielberg-directed films exceeds $9 billion worldwide and his personal net worth is estimated to be more than $3 billion. Spielberg was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to an Orthodox Jewish family and his mother, Leah Posner, was a restaurateur and concert pianist, and his father, Arnold Spielberg, was an electrical engineer involved in the development of computers. His paternal grandparents were immigrants from Ukraine who settled in Cincinnati in the first decade of the 1900s, in 1950, his family moved to Haddon Township, New Jersey when his father took a job with RCA. Three years later, the moved to Phoenix, Arizona. Spielberg attended Hebrew school from 1953 to 1957, in classes taught by Rabbi Albert L. Lewis, as a child, Spielberg faced difficulty reconciling being an Orthodox Jew with the perception of him by other children he played with. It isnt something I enjoy admitting, he said, but when I was seven, eight, nine years old, God forgive me. I was embarrassed by the perception of my parents Jewish practices. I was never really ashamed to be Jewish, but I was uneasy at times, Spielberg also said he suffered from acts of anti-Semitic prejudice and bullying, In high school, I got smacked and kicked around. His first home movie was of a wreck involving his toy Lionel trains. Throughout his early teens, and after entering school, Spielberg continued to make amateur 8 mm adventure films. In 1958, he became a Boy Scout and fulfilled a requirement for the merit badge by making a nine-minute 8 mm film entitled The Last Gunfight. Years later, Spielberg recalled to an interviewer, My dads still-camera was broken. He said yes, and I got an idea to do a Western, I made it and got my merit badge
16.
David Lean
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Sir David Lean, CBE was an English film director, producer, screenwriter and editor, responsible for large-scale epics such as The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago. He also directed adaptations of Dickens novels Great Expectations and Oliver Twist, Lean was born in Croydon, Surrey, to Francis William le Blount Lean and the former Helena Tangye. His parents were Quakers and he was a pupil at the Quaker-founded Leighton Park School in Reading and his younger brother, Edward Tangye Lean, founded the original Inklings literary club when a student at Oxford University. Lean was a schoolboy with a dreamy nature who was labeled a dud of a student, he left in his mid-teens. A more formative event for his career than his formal education was an uncles gift and you usually didnt give a boy a camera until he was 16 or 17 in those days. It was a compliment and I succeeded at it. Lean printed and developed his films, and it was his great hobby, at age 16, his father deserted the family when he ran off with another woman, and Lean would later follow a similar path after his own first marriage and child. He was taken on as a teaboy, promoted to clapperboy, by 1930 he was working as an editor on newsreels, including those of Gaumont Pictures and Movietone, while his move to feature films began with Freedom of the Seas and Escape Me Never. He edited Gabriel Pascals film productions of two George Bernard Shaw plays, Pygmalion and Major Barbara and he edited Powell & Pressburgers 49th Parallel and One of Our Aircraft Is Missing. After this last film, Lean began his career, after editing more than two dozen features by 1942. As Tony Sloman wrote in 1999, As the varied likes of David Lean, Robert Wise, Terence Fisher and Dorothy Arzner have proved, David Lean was given honorary membership of the Guild of British Film Editors in 1968. His first work as a director was in collaboration with Noël Coward on In Which We Serve and it has since become a classic, one of the most highly regarded British films. Two celebrated Charles Dickens adaptations followed – Great Expectations and Oliver Twist and these two films were the first directed by Lean to star Alec Guinness, whom Lean considered his good luck charm. The actors portrayal of Fagin was controversial at the time, the first screening in Berlin during February 1949 offended the surviving Jewish community and led to a riot. It caused problems too in New York, and after private screenings, was condemned by the Anti-Defamation League, to our surprise it was accused of being anti-Semitic, Lean wrote. We made Fagin an outsize and, we hoped, an amusing Jewish villain, the terms of the production code meant that the films release in the United States was delayed until July 1951 after cuts amounting to eight minutes. The Passionate Friends was the first of three films to feature the actress Ann Todd, who became his third wife, madeleine, set in Victorian-era Glasgow is about an 1857 cause célèbre with Todds lead character accused of murdering a former lover. The last of the films with Todd, The Sound Barrier, has a screenplay by the playwright Terence Rattigan and was the first of his three films for Sir Alexander Kordas London Films
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Carol Reed
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Sir Carol Reed was an English film director best known for Odd Man Out, The Fallen Idol and The Third Man. He received the Academy Award for Best Director, Carol Reed was born in Putney, south-west London. He was the son of actor-producer Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and his mistress. He was educated at The Kings School, Canterbury and he embarked on an acting career while still in his late teens. A period in the company of the thriller writer Edgar Wallace followed. Apart from acting in a few Wallace derived films himself, Reed became involved in adapting his work for the screen during the day while he was a manager in the evenings. The connection with Wallace ended with his death in Hollywood during February 1932, taken on by Basil Dean, Reed worked for his Associated Talking Pictures, successively for ATP as a dialogue director, second-unit director and then assistant director. His films in the later role working under Dean were Autumn Crocus, Lorna Doone and Loyalties and his earliest films as director were quota quickies. Of his experience making Midshipman Easy his first solo project he was harsh on himself. I was indefinite and indecisive, he said later, fortunately, I realised that this was the only way to learn – by making mistakes. Graham Greene, then reviewing films for The Spectator, was more forgiving, commenting that Reed has more sense of the cinema than most veteran British directors. Of Reeds comedy Laburnum Grove, he wrote, Here at last is an English film one can unreservedly praise, Reeds career began to develop with The Stars Look Down, from the A. J. Cronin novel, which features Michael Redgrave in the lead role. Greene wrote that Reed has at last had his chance and magnificently taken it and he observed that one forgets the casting altogether, he handles his players like a master, so that one remembers them only as people. The best known of these films are probably Night Train to Munich, with Rex Harrison, Kipps, again with Michael Redgrave, the later film, although historically inaccurate, is set during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. From 1942, Reed served in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, he was granted the rank of Captain and placed with the film unit, for the latter body a training film, The New Lot, was made, recounting the experiences of five new recruits. It had a script by Eric Ambler and Peter Ustinov, with contributions from Reed and it was remade as The Way Ahead. Reed made his three most highly regarded films just after the war, beginning with Odd Man Out, with James Mason in the lead and it is the tale of an injured terrorists last hours in an unidentified Northern Irish city. In fact, Belfast was used for the work
18.
John Boorman
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He has directed a total of 22 films and has received five Academy Award nominations. Boorman was born in Shepperton, Surrey, England, the son of Ivy and he was educated at the Salesian School in Chertsey, Surrey, even though his family was not Roman Catholic. Boorman first began by working as a drycleaner and journalist in the late 1950s and he ran the newsrooms at Southern Television in Southampton and Dover before moving into TV documentary filmmaking, eventually becoming the head of the BBCs Bristol-based Documentary Unit in 1962. While not as successful commercially as Lesters film, it drew good reviews from distinguished critics such as Pauline Kael and Dilys Powell, Lee Marvin gave the then-unknown director his full support, telling MGM he deferred all his approvals on the project to Boorman. Returning to the United Kingdom, he made Leo the Last and this film exhibited the influence of Federico Fellini and even starred Fellini regular Marcello Mastroianni, and won him a Best Director award at Cannes. This film became Boormans first true box office success, earning him several award nominations, at the beginning of the 1970s, Boorman was planning to film The Lord of the Rings and corresponded about his plans with the author, J. R. R. Tolkien. Ultimately the production proved too costly, though elements and themes can be seen in Excalibur. A wide variety of films followed, zardoz, starring Sean Connery, was a post-apocalyptic science fiction piece, set in the 24th century. Boorman was selected as director for Exorcist II, The Heretic, a move that surprised the industry given his antipathy to the original film. Boorman declared, Not only did I not want to do the original film and it was based on Chardins intoxicating Idea that biological evolution was the first step In Gods plan, starting with inert rock, and culminating In humankind. Despite Boormans continued rewriting throughout shooting, the film was rendered incomprehensible, the film, released in June 1977, was a critical and box office disaster. Boorman was denounced by author William Peter Blatty, the author of the original novel The Exorcist, Boorman later admitted that his approach to the film was a mistake. The Heretic is often considered not just the worst film of The Exorcist series, Excalibur, a long-held dream project of Boormans, is a retelling of the Arthurian legend, based on Le Morte DArthur. The production was based in the Republic of Ireland, where Boorman had relocated, for the film he employed all of his children as actors and crew and several of Boormans later films have been family business productions. The film, one of the first to be produced by Orion Films, was a moderate success, Hope and Glory is his most autobiographical movie to date, a retelling of his childhood in London during The Blitz. Produced by Goldcrest Films, with Hollywood financing the film, it proved a box office hit in the US, receiving numerous Oscar, BAFTA, however, his 1990 US-produced comedy about a dysfunctional family, Where the Heart Is, was a major flop. Rospo Pallenbergs original screenplay was adapted into a book of the name by award-winning author Robert Holdstock. When his friend David Lean died in 1991, Boorman was announced to be taking over direction of Leans long-planned adaptation of Nostromo, beyond Rangoon and The Tailor of Panama both explore unique worlds with alien characters stranded and desperate
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George Lucas
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George Walton Lucas Jr. is an American filmmaker and entrepreneur. He is best known as the creator of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, as well as the founder of Lucasfilm and he was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lucasfilm, before selling it to The Walt Disney Company in 2012. Upon graduating from the University of Southern California in 1967, Lucas co-founded American Zoetrope with fellow filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, Lucas wrote and directed THX1138, based on his earlier student short Electronic Labyrinth, THX1138 4EB, which was a critical success but a financial failure. His next work as a writer-director was the film, American Graffiti, inspired by his teen years in early 1960s Modesto, California, the film was critically and commercially successful, and received five Academy Award nominations including Best Picture. Following the first Star Wars film, Lucas produced and co-wrote the following installments in the trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back, along with Steven Spielberg, Lucas co-created and wrote the Indiana Jones films Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom, and The Last Crusade. Lucas also produced and/or wrote a variety of films through Lucasfilm in the 1980s and 1990s, Lucas also returned to directing with the Star Wars prequel trilogy, consisting of The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith. He later collaborated on the story for the Indiana Jones sequel Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, five of Lucass seven features are among the 100 highest-grossing movies at the North American box office, adjusted for ticket-price inflation. Lucas is one of the American film industrys most financially successful filmmakers, Lucas is considered a significant figure in the New Hollywood era. Lucas was born and raised in Modesto, California, the son of Dorothy Ellinore Lucas and George Walton Lucas and he is of German, Swiss-German, English, Scottish, and distant Dutch and French descent. Growing up, Lucas had a passion for cars and motor racing, on June 12,1962, while driving his souped-up Autobianchi Bianchina, another driver broadsided him, flipping over his car, nearly killing him, causing him to lose interest in racing as a career. He attended Modesto Junior College, where he studied anthropology, sociology and he also began shooting with an 8 mm camera, including filming car races. At this time, Lucas and his friend John Plummer became interested in Canyon Cinema, screenings of underground, avant-garde 16 mm filmmakers like Jordan Belson, Stan Brakhage, and Bruce Conner. Lucas and Plummer also saw classic European films of the time, including Jean-Luc Godards Breathless, François Truffauts Jules et Jim, thats when George really started exploring, Plummer said. Through his interest in racing, Lucas met renowned cinematographer Haskell Wexler, another race enthusiast. Wexler, later to work with Lucas on several occasions, was impressed by Lucas talent, George had a very good eye, and he thought visually, he recalled. Lucas then transferred to the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, USC was one of the earliest universities to have a school devoted to motion picture film. During the years at USC, Lucas shared a room with Randal Kleiser. Along with classmates such as Walter Murch, Hal Barwood, and John Milius and he also became good friends with fellow acclaimed student filmmaker and future Indiana Jones collaborator, Steven Spielberg
20.
The Road from Elephant Pass (film)
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It was a Blockbuster in Sri Lankan film history. A LTTE carder called Kamala Velaithan is surrendered to the Sri Lanka Army and she has important inside information for the army which would lead to an attack on the LTTE leader. Her brother was killed by the LTTE for trying to desert it, when they started the journey the jeep was attacked by LTTE. So both of them there and arrives Periyumbutur by a boat. Then, due to the attack faced before, his head is injured, so she wraps his head with a cloth and says not to speak anything. Both pass LTTE & ARMY points and continue the journey, meanwhile, both fall love immensely with each other. At last, he goes to hand over Kamala to IBM and there she reveals that the things she said about a big information is a lie, Captain Wasantha was angry, but he couldnt say anything because Brigadier calls him to come with Kamala. Both goes and BGD asks the information from Wasantha and he says a date and a time which he pondered. However, SL air force attacked the place and a group of top LTTE leaders were killed, meanwhile, Captain leaves to Elephant Pass and it was attacked by LTTE and his mother receives a letter that Captain Wasantha is missing, while the operation was going on. His mother falls on a chair with crying, after several years, Kamala and Wasantha are smiling and playing with their child at a flat in Toronto, Canada. Alimankada – The Road from Elephant Pass at Sandeshaya Sri Lanka A journey of revelation, The Road for Elephant Pass The Road to Elephant Pass New York Festivals
21.
A Common Man (film)
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A Common Man is a 2013 American-Sri Lankan thriller film directed by Sri Lankan filmmaker Chandran Rutnam, starring Ben Kingsley and Ben Cross. The film is inspired by the Indian film, A Wednesday, the film starts in a room full of bomb making material and newspaper articles about LTTE bombings in Sri Lanka, the screen then cuts to a typical busy morning in Colombo. The Man plants five bombs around the city, on a bus, in a shopping mall and the Polgoda police station, on an intercity train. A Common Man was released worldwide on 21 May 2013 in Blu-ray by Anchor Bay Films, the movie had its premiere at the Laemmle Music Hall Cinema in Beverly Hills, California on 15 March 2013. Behind the scenes of A Common Man A Common Man at the Internet Movie Database A Common Man wins bronze at New York Festival
22.
Ben Kingsley
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Sir Ben Kingsley is an English actor with a career spanning over 40 years. He has won an Oscar, Grammy, BAFTA, two Golden Globes, and a Screen Actors Guild Award and he is known for his starring role as Mohandas Gandhi in the 1982 film Gandhi, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. He is also known for his performances in the films Schindlers List, Twelfth Night, Sexy Beast, Lucky Number Slevin, Shutter Island, Prince of Persia, The Sands of Time, Hugo, and Iron Man 3. Kingsley was made a Knight Bachelor at Buckingham Palace in 2002 for services to the British film industry, in 2010, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2013, he received the BAFTA Los Angeles Britannia Award for Worldwide Contribution to Filmed Entertainment, Kingsley was born Krishna Bhanji in Snainton, North Riding of Yorkshire. He is the son of Anna Lyna Mary, an actress and model who appeared in films in the 1920s and 1930s, and Rahimtulla Harji Bhanji, Kingsleys father, born in Kenya, was of Gujarati Indian descent. Kingsleys paternal grandfather was an extremely successful spice trader who had moved from India to Zanzibar, Kingsleys mother was British, she was born out of wedlock, and was loath to speak of her background. Kingsley stated in 1994, Im not Jewish, and though there might be some Russian-Jewish heritage way back on my mothers side, the thread is so fine theres no real evidence. Kingsley grew up in Pendlebury, near Manchester and he was educated at Manchester Grammar School, where one of his classmates was the actor Robert Powell. Kingsley studied at the University of Salford and at Pendleton College, while at college he became involved in amateur dramatics in Manchester, making his professional stage debut on graduation, aged 23. In 1967, he made his London West End theatre debut at the Aldwych Theatre, devoting himself almost exclusively to stage work for the next 15 years, he made his Broadway debut in 1971 with the RSC. Kingsley played Mosca in Peter Halls 1977 production of Ben Jonsons Volpone for the Royal National Theatre, at about this time, he changed his name to Ben Kingsley, fearing that a foreign name would hamper his career. He took his name from his fathers nickname of Benji. He also starred in the role of Willy Loman in a 1982 Sydney production of Death of a Salesman opposite Mel Gibson, Kingsley made the transition to film roles early on, with his first role coming in Fear Is the Key, released in 1972. In 1975, he starred as Dante Gabriel Rossetti in the BBCs historical drama The Love School and he found fame only years later, starring as Mohandas Gandhi in the Academy Award-winning film Gandhi in 1982. The film was a critical and financial success, and Kingsley won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance, Kingsley has since appeared in a variety of roles. He won a Crystal Globe award for outstanding contribution to world cinema at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2001. In 1997, he provided voice talent for the video game Ceremony of Innocence, in 1998, he was the head of the jury at the 48th Berlin International Film Festival
