Dhanushka Gunathilake was born in 1982 Kandy, Sri Lanka. He is both academically trained and professionally skilled cinematographer, educator and international film festival jury member.
He received his first award for the best cinematography for his debut cinematographic venture Thanha Rathi Ranga (Nilendra Deshapriya, 2014). In 2015, Sulanga Gini Aran- Dark in the White Light-( Vimukthi Jayasundara, 2015) was the first Sri Lankan film to be premiered in the main competition at the prestigious Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland and Dhanushka was the associate cinematographer. In 2016, he worked as the cinematographer in Amawaka – The Invisible Moon- ( Vijitha Gunarathne, 2019) and Suparna( Sujeewa Priyal, 2020) both films were acknowledged and awarded at international film festivals for their cinematographic work. In 2017/2018, he cinematographed Ginnen Upan Seethala -The Frozen Fire- ( Anuruddha Jayasinghe, 2018) which was the Sri Lankan representation at Academy Awards in 2019. His latest film, a Political thriller Nobody knows ( Bennett Rathnayake) is to be released in 2022 in Sri Lanka.
Dhanushka is an alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). He has been lecturing in filmmaking at several Indian and Sri Lankan institutes and universities. He is a pioneering member of the first film academy in Sri Lanka – Digital Film Academy which is known as the Colombo Film School now.
He was the jury member of the 25th Avanca Film Festivals in Portugal 2021; The Light of Ray International Film Festival in India 2020; Baltic Industry Jury Member at the 23rd Black Night Film Festival in Estonia 2019; All Light Film Festival in India 2019 ; Asia Peace Film Festival in Islamabad 2017 and Karachchi, Pakistan 2018; State Music Awards 2015 ( Sri Lanka), Derana Music Video Awards 2016 ( Sri Lanka), Raigam Tele’es 2018 ( Sri Lanka) and a jury member of the Hiru Golden Film Awards in 2018 ( Sri Lanka). He was a resource person at the Open Doors at Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland in 2016, The artistic director of the Colombo International Student Film Festival (COINS Film Fest), The curator of the Bangladesh Film Festival in Colombo, a consultant to Iran Cultural Center for Cinema in Sri Lanka, a consultant to the SAARC Film Festival (2016- 2018) and a committee member of the International Film Festival of Colombo (IFFCOLOMBO).
He is currently living in Estonia and working as a cinematographer and as a project manager at ‘Frame within a Frame’ under Discovery campus, Industry @Tallinn & Baltic Event at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF).