Ever since filmmaker Sturla Gunnarsson's first movie, After the Axe, earned him an Oscar nomination in 1982, the Vancouver-raised, Toronto-based director hasn't bothered to slow down. Perhaps best known recently for films like Air India 182, Such a Long Journey, and Beowulf & Grendel the director has established an oeuvre that specializes in spinning forces of nature into something visually stunning and fascinating.
This year, Sturla returns to the Toronto International Film Festival with his feature documentary, Monsoon, a gripping meditation on the annual rains that descend upon India, and the alternatively disastrous and beneficial impact on Indian society, economy, agriculture, and lives.
For his episode of the Director's Canvas, we visited Sturla at his canoe club for a ride on the waters of Lake Ontario, and visited his studio for a chat discussing his expansive 32-year career in cinema.