Danielle Sturk is a Franco Manitoban storyteller who began working in film and television in 2004 after graduating from the University of Winnipeg with a Bachelor of Arts in Film and Theatre. Since that time, Sturk has established herself as a committed and passionate storyteller in both English and French.
Audiences will know her best for her hybrid documentary El Toro (2018) where she skillfully mixed live-action, miniatures and animation to create a surreal and nostalgic story of family and memory. The film was recognized with a 2020 nomination from the Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) for their Allan King Award for Best Documentary Film. It also garnered a spot on the 2019 Hot Doc Film Festival Top 5 Audience Pick list (for medium-length films) and on Gimli Film Festival’s Top 3 Audience Pick list, and was awarded two Golden Sheaf Awards at the 2019 Yorkton Film Festival for Best Director Non-Fiction and Best Experimental Film.
Sturk recently adapted the film into a six-part drama series, which she wrote and directed. The original series, produced by Manito Média will be broadcast in the spring of 2023 on Radio Canada’s prime time network, ART TV and streaming on tout.tv.
Sturk has also recently directed episodes of the series Padre for UNIS TV (2022) and Edgar for Crave and Bell Super Channel (2021) for which she was nominated for the DGC Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Dramatic Series.
Her new documentary Pourquoi? (Office national du film du Canada) about sexual violence and teens will be released in the Spring of 2023.