[2] She also held the post of Sri Lanka's ambassador to France, Spain and the United Nations in the late 1990s.
[citation needed] At the age of 20 Sumitra managed to find some money and traveled to Europe by ship to meet her elder brother Gamini.
[6] Peries won the award for the best film director in fifty years of Sri Lankan cinema.
[7] Sumitra married Lester James Peries (1919–2018) on June 19, 1964, at All Saints Church, Borella, and a reception was held at the residence of Anton Wickremasinghe afterwards.
[9] The Lester James Peries and Sumitra Peries Foundation was inaugurated in 2011, at the BMICH with an oration by the chief guest, celebrated Indian film-maker Padma Vibushan Dr. Adoor Gopalakrishnan, and the Speaker of Parliament, Chamal Rajapakse, as the Guest of Honor.