The inaugural ceremony of the Buddhist Film Festival 2011 was officially held under the patronage of President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Presidential Secretariat, Colombo yesterday.

Along with the inaugural ceremony of the Buddhist Film Festival 2011, the awards ceremony of International Buddhist Film Festival in 2010 was also held.

Film producers from Malaysia, the US, Germany, Belgium, India, Canada, Iran, Australia, Japan, Switzerland, and France were given awards by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

"Our expectation is propagating Buddhism to the world community through the media," Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa participating at the inaugural ceremony of the 2600th Sri Sambuddha Jayanthi Buddhist Film Festival stated.

One of the main intentions is to tell the world about Buddhism through the audio video mediums, he said. "It is a great pleasure that, already a number of countries have started to produce Buddhist films for the Buddhist Film Festival in 2011.

"We expect to make Sri Lanka the center of Buddhist films in 2011. We hope to hold the greatest Vesak ceremony in 2011, which will make Sri Lanka glitter in the world."

An archaeologist from Nepal Dr Bisntha Binari said that Kapilawasthu and Lumbini are the most important places in Nepal and a large number of Buddhist pilgrims from Sri Lanka and other countries visit annually.

Awards were presented to local and foreign films in five categories.