Movie star and award-winning film director Gamini Fonseka, who is a legend in Sri Lanka, will speak and screen his film Uthumaneni at UNLV on June 9.

Fonseka's talk, "South Asian Cinema," will begin at 6 p.m. in the Classroom Building Complex, Room A-106. The film will be shown following his talk.

The event, which is organized by the Asian Studies Program of UNLV's College of Liberal Arts and sponsored by the Nevada Humanities Committee and the Sri Lanka America Association of Southern Nevada, is free and open to the public.

Fonseka wrote and directed "Uthumaneni" ("My Lord!") and acted in it as well. This award-winning film depicts the plight of a female rape victim and her family in the male-dominated justice system of Sri Lanka. Fonseka tackled this sensitive subject long before politicians in Sri Lanka began dealing with the issue.

On June 6, Fonseka will be honored with a lifetime achievement award for his contributions to Sri Lankan cinema for the past 40 years. The award will be presented in Los Angeles by the Lanka America Cultural Council.

He began his film career as the third assistant director in David Lean's Bridge on the River Kwai. He also served as an assistant director on Rekawa," a film by Sri Lankan director Lester James Peiris.

Fonseka quickly became a matinee idol after making his acting debut in the film Sandesaya. One of his best performances came in the film Nidhanaya ("The Treasure"), which recently was selected as one of the best 100 movies ever made in the world and became part of the collection at the International Film Archive.

In later years Fonseka became involved in politics, serving as deputy speaker of Parliament and as the governor of the North-Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. He recently retired from politics and now serves as the director of Maharaja Organization, a multinational corporation.

For additional information about Fonseka's lecture at UNLV, call Naranapiti Karunaratne, assistant professor of criminal justice, at 895-0243.