Gerard James Butler is a Scottish actor and film producer. After studying law, he turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as Mrs Brown (1997), the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), and Tale of the Mummy (1998). In 2000, he starred as Count Dracula in the gothic horror film Dracula 2000. He played Attila the Hun in the miniseries Attila (2001), then appeared in the films Reign of Fire (2002) and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life (2003) before starring in the science fiction film Timeline (2003). He played Erik, The Phantom in Joel Schumacher's 2004 musical The Phantom of the Opera.
Beowulf & Grendel is a 2005 Canadian-Icelandic fantasy adventure film directed by Sturla Gunnarsson, loosely based on the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf. It stars Gerard Butler as Beowulf, Stellan Skarsgård as Hrothgar, Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson as Grendel and Sarah Polley as the witch Selma. The screenplay was written by Andrew Rai Berzins. The soundtrack was composed by Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson.
Jonathan Nossiter is an American filmmaker.
Buddha's Lost Children is a 2006 documentary film by Dutch director Mark Verkerk. The feature film tells the story of Khru Bah Neua Chai Kositto, a Buddhist monk who has dedicated his life to orphaned children in the Golden Triangle area of Thailand. The film opened in Dutch cinemas in September 2006.
Visas and Virtue is a 1997 narrative short film directed by Chris Tashima and starring Chris Tashima, Susan Fukuda, Diana Georger and Lawrence Craig. It was inspired by the true story of Holocaust rescuer Chiune "Sempo" Sugihara, who is known as "The Japanese Schindler". Sugihara issued over 2,000 transit visas to Polish and Lithuanian Jews from his consulate in Kaunas, Lithuania, in August 1940, in defiance of his own government (Japan), thereby allowing an estimated 6,000 individuals to escape the impending Holocaust.
Jon Gustafsson is an Iceland born film director and photographer. The Icelandic spelling of his name is Jón Gústafsson. Best known for directing the Canadian documentary film Wrath of Gods, starring Gerard Butler, Wendy Ord, Sarah Polley, Paul Stephens and Sturla Gunnarsson. He grew up in Iceland where he started his career as a television performer before studying filmmaking at Manchester Polytechnic and directing for film and theatre at CalArts where he was mentored by the legendary Ealing Studios director Alexander Mackendrick. Wrath of Gods was his second documentary for CBC Newsworld, the first one was The Importance of Being Icelandic. He immigrated to Canada where he directed the low-budget feature film Kanadiana and the music video Brighter Hell for the Canadian rock band The Watchmen. In 2011 Jon Gustafsson produced the award winning short film In A Heartbeat, directed by Karolina Lewicka, through his production company Artio Films. He co-wrote and co-directed the feature film Shadowtown with Karolina Lewicka.
Sturla Gunnarsson is an Icelandic-Canadian film and television director and producer.
The Oxford International Film Festival or OIFF was established in Oxford, Ohio in 2007 by founder and event director J.C. Schroder.
The Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital is the largest environmental film festival in the world. The festival is held annually March in Washington, D.C., presenting more than 100 films to an audience of over 30,000. Often combined with thematic discussions and social events, the films screen at museums, embassies, libraries, universities and local theaters.
Martin Delaney is an English actor and filmmaker. He has appeared in films such as Zero Dark Thirty, Judas Ghost, and Amar Akbar & Tony.
Rob Stewart was a Canadian photographer, filmmaker and shark conservationist. He was best known for making and directing the documentary films Sharkwater and Revolution. He drowned at the age of 37 while scuba diving in Florida, filming Sharkwater Extinction.
Bjørn Floberg is a Norwegian actor of film, television and theatre. He is particularly noted for playing unsympathetic authority figures, but he has also had success playing other types of roles.
Manfred Becker is a German-Canadian documentary independent filmmaker and film editor. His work often explores personal stories behind current or historical issues.
The Festival of Tolerance - JFF Zagreb is an annual film festival held in Zagreb, Croatia which is dedicated to preservation of memories on Holocaust and on raising public awareness about the importance of tolerance.
Þröstur Leó Gunnarsson, is an Icelandic stage, film and television actor.
Karolina Lewicka is a Polish-Canadian director, writer and producer for Artio Films. Karolina graduated from The Poznan University of Economics in Poland. She also studied business at The University of Toronto in Canada. She co-wrote and co-produced an award-winning documentary Wrath of Gods directed by Jon Gustafsson. The film is an Icelandic–Canadian co-production and was financed with participation of the Icelandic Film Fund and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The documentary was screened at numerous film festivals around the world, including USA, Portugal, UK and Poland, and received six awards. It was broadcast on RUV in Iceland and CBC Television in Canada. In 2008, Karolina was chosen to participate at the Berlinale Talent Campus. In 2011, she directed her first short film is entitled In a Heartbeat. In a Heartbeat has been invited to eighty film festivals in numerous countries and has won several awards, including Best Short Film in Uruguay and India and Best Original Music in Spain. In a Heartbeat was nominated for the Icelandic Film and Television Academy Awards in 2011. Karolina Lewicka co-wrote and co-directed the feature film Shadowtown with Jon Gustafsson.
Artio Films is an Icelandic film production company founded in 2006 by Jon Gustafsson. Artio Films produces documentaries, feature films, short films and commercials. Artio Films has produced commercial projects for Icelandic companies, Animal Planet, CBC Television, Reuters and Associated Press.
Scottish actor Gerard Butler has been in numerous films and television series since his on-screen debut in 1997's Mrs. Brown. After taking minor roles in releases such as the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and the horror film Tale of the Mummy (1998), he took the lead in 2000, portraying Dracula in Dracula 2000. Butler co-starred in the films Reign of Fire (2002), alongside Christian Bale, and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life (2003), with Angelina Jolie, before playing André Marek in the adaptation of Michael Crichton's science fiction adventure Timeline (2003). Then he was cast as Erik, The Phantom in Joel Schumacher's 2004 film adaptation of the musical The Phantom of the Opera alongside Emmy Rossum, and Butterfly on a Wheel with Pierce Brosnan and Maria Bello. Although these films were important breaks, it was only in 2007 that Butler gained worldwide recognition for his portrayal of King Leonidas in Zack Snyder's 2007 fantasy war film 300. It earned him an MTV Movie Award for Best Fight and an Empire Award for Best Actor nomination. That same year, Butler starred in the romantic drama film P.S. I Love You with Hilary Swank. After appearing in the 2008 films Nim's Island with Jodie Foster and RocknRolla with Idris Elba, Butler took the lead in several 2009 films including the romantic comedy The Ugly Truth with Katherine Heigl and the thriller Law Abiding Citizen with Jamie Foxx.
Sharkwater Extinction is a 2018 Canadian documentary film directed by Rob Stewart. It premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. A sequel to his 2007 film Sharkwater, the film, which Stewart was working on at the time of his death in a diving accident in January 2017, was completed by the Rob Stewart Foundation in collaboration with director Sturla Gunnarsson and editor Nick Hector.
