Mahendra Perera and Priyantha Sirikumara Bring International Glory to Sri Lanka at the 2026 Malaysia Golden Global Awards
Sri Lankan cinema earned outstanding international recognition in Kuala Lumpur when Mahendra Perera and Priyantha Sirikumara won Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for Riverstone at the 2026 Malaysia Golden Global Awards. Their double victory celebrates the strength of Sri Lankan performance, storytelling and filmmaking on the global stage.
Sri Lankan cinema enjoyed a remarkable night of international recognition when acclaimed actors Mahendra Perera and Priyantha Sirikumara received two of the principal acting honours at the 9th Malaysia Golden Global Awards 2026.
Mahendra Perera was named Best Actor, while Priyantha Sirikumara received the award for Best Supporting Actor, both for their performances in director Lalith Rathnayake’s Sri Lankan feature film Riverstone.
The awards were presented on 25 July 2026 at the Megastar Arena in Kuala Lumpur as the ninth Malaysia International Film Festival—MIFFest—concluded its eight-day programme. The festival and awards ceremony carried the theme “Resonance”, celebrating stories and performances capable of crossing national, cultural and linguistic boundaries.
A Proud Double Victory for Sri Lanka
The two acting awards placed Riverstone among the major winners of an international competition that brought together films and filmmaking talent from Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas.
MIFFest 2026 presented 62 films from 35 countries and regions, while ten international productions competed for the festival’s principal honours. The competitive selection included films from Sri Lanka, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia, Egypt, Europe and North America.
Mahendra Perera’s victory was particularly notable because fellow Sri Lankan actor Randika Gunathilaka, also appearing in Riverstone, was among the nominees in the Best Actor category. Sri Lanka therefore had two performers competing within the same major international acting category before Mahendra ultimately secured the award.
Two Awards. One Proud Nation.
Sri Lankan acting excellence recognised in Kuala Lumpur
The two awards were confirmed by Malaysian media reporting directly from the ceremony, including Malay Mail and the New Straits Times.
Riverstone: A Journey Through Duty, Power and Conscience
Directed by Lalith Rathnayake, Riverstone follows three police officers escorting a prisoner through Sri Lanka’s mountainous landscape. What initially appears to be an official assignment gradually exposes moral conflict, political influence, ethnic tension and the psychological consequences of following questionable orders.
The film turns the physical journey through the Knuckles and Riverstone region into a deeper examination of authority, conscience and personal responsibility. Rather than relying entirely on action, its tension develops through dialogue, silence, restrained performances and the changing relationships between the officers and their prisoner.
The production was directed by Lalith Rathnayake and co-produced by Prabath Roshan and Nimanthi Porage for Cine Arts. The credited cast includes Mahendra Perera, Priyantha Sirikumara, Shyam Fernando, Randika Gunathilaka, Ananda Kumara Unnahe and other Sri Lankan performers.
The Malaysian awards demonstrate how the strength of the film rests not only in its subject but also in its ensemble performances. Mahendra Perera’s leading performance and Priyantha Sirikumara’s supporting role help communicate the uncertainty, fear, loyalty and moral unease carried by the film’s characters.
An International Journey of Recognition
The Malaysian success is part of a growing international journey for Riverstone.
At the 27th Shanghai International Film Festival in 2025, Lalith Rathnayake and Nilantha Perera received the Asian New Talent award for Best Screenplay, while Prabath Roshan won Best Cinematographer for the film.
Later that year, the Singapore International Film Festival presented Lalith Rathnayake with Best Director and Mahendra Perera with Best Performance in its Asian Feature Film Competition.
In May 2026, Prabath Roshan added another international achievement when Riverstone received the Golden Petrel Award for Best Cinematography at the Asian Art Film Festival in Macau.
A Film Travelling the World
Best Cinematographer
Best Performance
Best Cinematography
Best Supporting Actor
Together, these achievements show recognition across several distinct areas of filmmaking: screenplay, direction, cinematography, leading performance and supporting performance.
Why This Victory Matters for Sri Lankan Cinema
International film festivals provide smaller national film industries with an important pathway to global audiences. A Sri Lankan production may face limited domestic screens, budgets and promotional resources, yet strong festival recognition can introduce its artists to distributors, critics, programmers and viewers who might otherwise never encounter their work.
The Malaysian double victory also demonstrates that authentic Sri Lankan stories do not have to lose their cultural identity to connect internationally. Riverstone is rooted in Sri Lankan geography, institutions, ethnic complexities and social realities. Its international response suggests that locally grounded stories can still communicate universal questions about power, fear, justice and conscience.
For Sri Lankan actors, such recognition strengthens professional visibility beyond the domestic market. It can encourage future co-productions, festival invitations, international distribution discussions and creative collaboration across Asia and the wider world.
A Victory Beyond the Screen
An Achievement for Sri Lankans Everywhere
For Sri Lankan communities around the world, the success of Mahendra Perera and Priyantha Sirikumara is more than an entertainment headline. It is a reminder of the creative excellence that continues to emerge from the island despite the financial, structural and distribution challenges faced by its cinema industry.
SLD congratulates Mahendra Perera, Priyantha Sirikumara, Lalith Rathnayake and the entire Riverstone cast and production team. Their achievement strengthens the international reputation of Sri Lankan cinema and creates greater confidence in the ability of Sri Lankan artists to compete at the highest level.
Readers are encouraged to support quality Sri Lankan cinema, share this achievement with global audiences and recognise the filmmakers, performers and technicians carrying Sri Lankan stories across borders.
Editorial note: Award, festival and film information is based on publicly available sources current at the time of publication.
