Sturla Gunnarsson

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Sturla Gunnarsson (2016)

Sturla Gunnarsson (born August 30, 1951 in Reykjavík , Iceland ) is a Canadian film director and producer of Icelandic origin.

Live and act

Sturla Gunnarsson was born in Iceland, but grew up in Vancouver, Canada, from the age of seven . He first studied English literature at the University of British Columbia (UBC). After completing his BA in 1974 , he traveled through Europe and worked, among other things, as a shepherd in Crete and a fisherman in Iceland. Back in Canada, he completed a film degree at UBC until 1977. His graduation film A Day Much Like the Others (1979) ran successfully at student film festivals and was shown at the Museum of Modern Art.

After graduating, Gunnarsson moved to Toronto and began working as a freelance director and producer for the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). His first NFB film, the docu-drama After the Ax, about a middle-aged manager who is fired, earned Gunnarsson an Oscar nomination and other international awards.

After two dramas for Atlantis Films , Gunnarsson directed the Cinéma-vérité -Doku Final Offer, produced by NFB and CBC . The film was released in 1985 and is about clashes between Canadian and American trade unions during a strike at General Motors that took place three years earlier . Final Offer received critical acclaim, including a Genie Award .

Gunnarsson then directed individual episodes for numerous Canadian, American and British television series. At the same time he worked, u. a. Due to financial difficulties and script changes, spent ten years working on his first feature film, Diplomatic Immunity . As with After the Ax, he worked with screenwriter Steve Lucas . Diplomatic Immunity is about development workers in El Salvador and was shot in Mexico. The film was completed in 1991, won a Prix Ville des Cannes in the same year and was nominated for four Genie Awards. While in Latin America, Gunnarsson contracted severe hepatitis , which forced him to take a recovery period.

In the following years, Gunnarsson directed several films for Canadian television. His documentary Gerrie & Louise, broadcast in 1997, about the relationship between an officer and a journalist during apartheid , won a Gemini Award and an International Emmy Award . The following year, his Rohinton Mistry novel adaptation Such a Long Journey , shot in Mumbai and won three Genie Awards, was released. Gunnarsson's next feature film was the romantic comedy Rare Birds (2001) with William Hurt in the lead role. Four years later, his epic heroic poem adaptation Beowulf & Grendel premiered.

In 2008 Gunnarsson was elected President of the Directors Guild of Canada , a Canadian union for filmmakers.

Gunnarsson is married to Judy Koonar, who co-produced his documentary Air India 182 (about Air India Flight 182 ).

Awards (selection)

Filmography (selection)

  • 1979: A Day Much Like the Others
  • 1981: After the Ax
  • 1982: The Bamboo Brush, Rainbow series
  • 1983: The Truesteel Affair
  • 1984: Talking Dirty
  • 1985: Final Offer (TV documentary)
  • 1987: Where Is Here? (Documentary)
  • 1987–1988: Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV series, 2 episodes)
  • 1988: Bradbury's Chamber of Horrors ( The Ray Bradbury Theater ) (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1988–1989: Beach Pirates (TV series, 2 episodes)
  • 1989: Twilight Zone (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1990: The Campbell ( The Campbells ) (TV series, four episodes)
  • 1991: Diplomatic Immunity
  • 1993: The Mounties of Lynx River ( North of 60 ) (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1996: We the Jury (TV movie)
  • 1996: Mother Trucker: The Diana Kilmury Story (TV movie)
  • 1997: The Diary of Evelyn Lau (TV movie)
  • 1997: Joe Torre: Curveballs Along the Way (TV movie)
  • 1997: Gerrie & Louise (documentary)
  • 1997–1999: Dead Man's Gun (TV series, 4 episodes)
  • 1998: Such a Long Journey
  • 1999: Ricky Nelson: Original Teen Idol (TV movie)
  • 1999: Dangerous Evidence: The Lori Jackson Story (TV movie)
  • 2000: Scorn (TV movie)
  • 2001: Rare Birds
  • 2002: The Man Who Saved Christmas
  • 2002: 100 Days in the Jungle (TV movie)
  • 2003: Da Vinci's Inquest (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 2005: Beowulf & Grendel
  • 2007–2009: The Best Years: On Your Own Feet (TV series, 2 episodes)
  • 2008: Air India 182 (documentary)
  • 2008–2011: Degrassi (TV series, 8 episodes)
  • 2009: Defying Gravity (TV series, 3 episodes)
  • 2010: Force of Nature
  • 2011: The National Parks Project (documentary)
  • 2011: Rookie Blue (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 2012: The Firm (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 2013: Ice Soldiers
  • 2013–2016: Motive (TV series, 10 episodes)
  • 2014: Monsoon (documentary)
  • 2018: Schitt's Creek (TV series, 6 episodes)
  • 2018–2019: Ransom (TV series, 4 episodes)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sturla Gunnarsson ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia .
  2. ↑ a b c biography in the Canadian Film Encyclopedia tiff.net, accessed January 6, 2014.
  3. ↑ Air India revisited: Documentary weaves together the threads of national tragedy ( Memento of the original from April 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. canada.com, accessed January 6, 2014. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.canada.com
personal data
SURNAME Gunnarsson, Sturla
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian film director
DATE OF BIRTH August 30, 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH Reykjavík , Iceland