01.01.1951 (73 years) (Reykjavík, Iceland)
Sturla Gunnarsson (born August 30, 1951) is an Icelandic-Canadian film and television director and producer. Gunnarsson was born in Reykjavík in 1951. He moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, with his parents when he was seven years old. As he grew up he became interested in filmmaking and went to the University of British Columbia where he completed undergraduate studies in English literature and graduate work in film studies. Part of the graduate program requires the production of a film. His, A Day Much Like the Others, went on to win top honours at the Canadian Student Film Festival and the European Student Film Festival. It was also screened at New York City's Museum of Modern Art. With his formal education behind him, Gunnarsson moved to Toronto and worked initially at the National Film Board (NFB). His first NFB project, After the Axe, received an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature. He has since won a number of awards including Emmy Award, Genie Award and Gemini Awards, a Prix Italia, and the Prix Villes de Cannes. His documentary about David Suzuki, Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie, won the People’s Choice Documentary Award at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival.In 2018, Gunnarsson worked with film and story editor Nick Hector to complete the movie Sharkwater Extinction after the death of Rob Stewart.