Hanna Polak

Hanna Polak

Birth : 1967-07-21, Katowice, Śląskie, Poland

History

Hanna Polak (born 1967) is a Polish documentary director, cinematographer and producer. For her short documentary film, "The Children of Leningradsky", about a community of homeless children living in the Leningradsky railway station in Moscow, she was nominated for an Academy Award and an Emmy Award. In 2003, she was awarded Best Producer of Documentary Movies at the Kraków Film Festival for Railway Station Ballad. In 2004, Polak completed her documentary film, "The Children of Leningradsky", which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject). In 2014, Polak has completed her documentary film "Something Better To Come", which received the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) Special Jury Award, and won main prizes at several film festivals. Polak’s works as a producer, director, and cinematographer have appeared on major television networks worldwide including American HBO, ABC (American Broadcasting Company), Canal+, France 2, Fuji Television, ITN, TVP (Telewizja Polska), TVN (Poland), Belgian Radio and TV, and many other TV stations. Her films have been screened in hundreds film festivals around the world, including Sundance Film Festival, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, True/False Film Festival, and FIPA (Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels). In 2006, Polak’s photography works won her third prize in the UNICEF International Photography Competition Photo of the Year. For her cinematography work for Stone Silence, shot in Afghanistan, she was awarded with the Artistic Mastery of Photographing award from the Kiev Film Festival. For her cinematography work for Something Better to Come, she was awarded with the Best Cinematography award from Gdańsk DocFilm Festival and with Canon Non Fiction Frame Special Mention from Docs Against Gravity film festival. Polak has collaborated with different aid agencies to help unprivileged children. For her charitable efforts, Polak was awarded the prestigious Golden Heart Award, the “Award for serving the uppermost ideals of mankind” by NTV (Russia), and the Crystal Mirror award by the Mirror magazine in Poland, an award that recognizes “people of dialogue, those who unite, not divide.” She has lectured on documentary filmmaking at many universities worldwide, including UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, North Carolina, Chapel Hill; University of Guadalajara, Mexico; North Texas University; Monterey Institute of International Studies, California; Middlebury College, Vermont; University of Hawaii, Honolulu, and many others. Polak was a jury member at the Kraków Film Festival and the Document International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival in Glasgow, Scotland; she was a tutor for the EsoDoc workshop; and she was an expert for the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (Poland), evaluating documentary projects for the Polish Film Institute.

Profile

Hanna Polak

Movies

Angels of Sinjar
Angels of Sinjar
Director of Photography
Hanifa and Saeed barely survived the hell that ISIS inflicted on them and their people. Hanifa escaped kidnapping, but her younger sisters were enslaved by the Islamic State. Hanifa embarks on a mission to find them and bring them home.
Angels of Sinjar
Angels of Sinjar
Producer
Hanifa and Saeed barely survived the hell that ISIS inflicted on them and their people. Hanifa escaped kidnapping, but her younger sisters were enslaved by the Islamic State. Hanifa embarks on a mission to find them and bring them home.
Angels of Sinjar
Angels of Sinjar
Director
Hanifa and Saeed barely survived the hell that ISIS inflicted on them and their people. Hanifa escaped kidnapping, but her younger sisters were enslaved by the Islamic State. Hanifa embarks on a mission to find them and bring them home.
Something Better to Come
Something Better to Come
Director of Photography
Right outside of Moscow – home to the highest number of billionaires pr. capita – you’ll find the largest junkyard in the world: The Svalka. It’s a hard place run by the Russian mafia. And it's where Yula lives with her mother, her friends and many other people. Life is tough in the Svalka, but it’s also a place where beauty and humanity can arise from the most unlikely conditions. It is from this place that Yula dreams of escaping and changing her life, even if it seems impossible. Oscar-nominated director Hanna Polak followed Yula for 14 years, bringing us along on Yula's journey to achieve this dream.
Something Better to Come
Something Better to Come
Editor
Right outside of Moscow – home to the highest number of billionaires pr. capita – you’ll find the largest junkyard in the world: The Svalka. It’s a hard place run by the Russian mafia. And it's where Yula lives with her mother, her friends and many other people. Life is tough in the Svalka, but it’s also a place where beauty and humanity can arise from the most unlikely conditions. It is from this place that Yula dreams of escaping and changing her life, even if it seems impossible. Oscar-nominated director Hanna Polak followed Yula for 14 years, bringing us along on Yula's journey to achieve this dream.
Something Better to Come
Something Better to Come
Producer
Right outside of Moscow – home to the highest number of billionaires pr. capita – you’ll find the largest junkyard in the world: The Svalka. It’s a hard place run by the Russian mafia. And it's where Yula lives with her mother, her friends and many other people. Life is tough in the Svalka, but it’s also a place where beauty and humanity can arise from the most unlikely conditions. It is from this place that Yula dreams of escaping and changing her life, even if it seems impossible. Oscar-nominated director Hanna Polak followed Yula for 14 years, bringing us along on Yula's journey to achieve this dream.
Something Better to Come
Something Better to Come
Writer
Right outside of Moscow – home to the highest number of billionaires pr. capita – you’ll find the largest junkyard in the world: The Svalka. It’s a hard place run by the Russian mafia. And it's where Yula lives with her mother, her friends and many other people. Life is tough in the Svalka, but it’s also a place where beauty and humanity can arise from the most unlikely conditions. It is from this place that Yula dreams of escaping and changing her life, even if it seems impossible. Oscar-nominated director Hanna Polak followed Yula for 14 years, bringing us along on Yula's journey to achieve this dream.
Something Better to Come
Something Better to Come
Director
Right outside of Moscow – home to the highest number of billionaires pr. capita – you’ll find the largest junkyard in the world: The Svalka. It’s a hard place run by the Russian mafia. And it's where Yula lives with her mother, her friends and many other people. Life is tough in the Svalka, but it’s also a place where beauty and humanity can arise from the most unlikely conditions. It is from this place that Yula dreams of escaping and changing her life, even if it seems impossible. Oscar-nominated director Hanna Polak followed Yula for 14 years, bringing us along on Yula's journey to achieve this dream.
Love and Rubbish
Love and Rubbish
Director of Photography
Love and Rubbish
Love and Rubbish
Producer
Love and Rubbish
Love and Rubbish
Screenplay
Love and Rubbish
Love and Rubbish
Director
Warsaw Battle 1920 in 3D
Warsaw Battle 1920 in 3D
Editor
Warsaw Battle 1920 in 3D
Warsaw Battle 1920 in 3D
Director of Photography
Warsaw Battle 1920 in 3D
Warsaw Battle 1920 in 3D
Director
The Officer's Wife
The Officer's Wife
Director of Photography
In an old safe, a man discovers his grandmother’s memoirs, old photos of an army officer and a mysterious postcard that link to a concealed crime; the Katyn Forest massacre. Weaving interviews with bold animation, The Officer's Wife explores the collision of truth, justice and memory in a family tragedy.
Faces of Homelessness
Faces of Homelessness
Director of Photography
Faces of Homelessness
Faces of Homelessness
Director
Stone Silence
Stone Silence
Director of Photography
The Orange Sun
The Orange Sun
Director
After the second round of the 2004 presidential elections in Ukraine, millions of people went out on the streets. During this revolution, there was a genuine solidarity between people from different levels of the society, from the cities and the countryside. Although these people were brought up in a Soviet society where every protest against the authorities was a danger to one's life, they were so disappointed by what came after the collapse of the Soviet Union that they went out to the streets, faced the authorities and made the orange revolution possible. The film explores motives for taking part in the Ukrainian revolution, their view of the world, living-condition and hope for the future.
The Children of Leningradsky
The Children of Leningradsky
Translator
Since the fall of the Iron Curtain an estimated four million children have found themselves living on the streets in the former countries of the Soviet Union. In the streets of Moscow alone there are over 30,000 surviving in this manner at the present time. The makers of the documentary film concentrated on a community of homeless children living hand to mouth in the Moscow train station Leningradsky. Eight-year-old Sasha, eleven-year-old Kristina, thirteen-year-old Misha and ten-year-old Andrej all dream of living in a communal home. They spend winter nights trying to stay warm by huddling together on hot water pipes and most of their days are spent begging. Andrej has found himself here because of disagreements with his family. Kristina was driven into this way of life by the hatred of her stepmother and twelve-year-old Roma by the regular beatings he received from his constantly drunk father. "When it is worst, we try to make money for food by prostitution," admits ...
The Children of Leningradsky
The Children of Leningradsky
Director of Photography
Since the fall of the Iron Curtain an estimated four million children have found themselves living on the streets in the former countries of the Soviet Union. In the streets of Moscow alone there are over 30,000 surviving in this manner at the present time. The makers of the documentary film concentrated on a community of homeless children living hand to mouth in the Moscow train station Leningradsky. Eight-year-old Sasha, eleven-year-old Kristina, thirteen-year-old Misha and ten-year-old Andrej all dream of living in a communal home. They spend winter nights trying to stay warm by huddling together on hot water pipes and most of their days are spent begging. Andrej has found himself here because of disagreements with his family. Kristina was driven into this way of life by the hatred of her stepmother and twelve-year-old Roma by the regular beatings he received from his constantly drunk father. "When it is worst, we try to make money for food by prostitution," admits ...
The Children of Leningradsky
The Children of Leningradsky
Screenplay
Since the fall of the Iron Curtain an estimated four million children have found themselves living on the streets in the former countries of the Soviet Union. In the streets of Moscow alone there are over 30,000 surviving in this manner at the present time. The makers of the documentary film concentrated on a community of homeless children living hand to mouth in the Moscow train station Leningradsky. Eight-year-old Sasha, eleven-year-old Kristina, thirteen-year-old Misha and ten-year-old Andrej all dream of living in a communal home. They spend winter nights trying to stay warm by huddling together on hot water pipes and most of their days are spent begging. Andrej has found himself here because of disagreements with his family. Kristina was driven into this way of life by the hatred of her stepmother and twelve-year-old Roma by the regular beatings he received from his constantly drunk father. "When it is worst, we try to make money for food by prostitution," admits ...
The Children of Leningradsky
The Children of Leningradsky
Producer
Since the fall of the Iron Curtain an estimated four million children have found themselves living on the streets in the former countries of the Soviet Union. In the streets of Moscow alone there are over 30,000 surviving in this manner at the present time. The makers of the documentary film concentrated on a community of homeless children living hand to mouth in the Moscow train station Leningradsky. Eight-year-old Sasha, eleven-year-old Kristina, thirteen-year-old Misha and ten-year-old Andrej all dream of living in a communal home. They spend winter nights trying to stay warm by huddling together on hot water pipes and most of their days are spent begging. Andrej has found himself here because of disagreements with his family. Kristina was driven into this way of life by the hatred of her stepmother and twelve-year-old Roma by the regular beatings he received from his constantly drunk father. "When it is worst, we try to make money for food by prostitution," admits ...
The Children of Leningradsky
The Children of Leningradsky
Director
Since the fall of the Iron Curtain an estimated four million children have found themselves living on the streets in the former countries of the Soviet Union. In the streets of Moscow alone there are over 30,000 surviving in this manner at the present time. The makers of the documentary film concentrated on a community of homeless children living hand to mouth in the Moscow train station Leningradsky. Eight-year-old Sasha, eleven-year-old Kristina, thirteen-year-old Misha and ten-year-old Andrej all dream of living in a communal home. They spend winter nights trying to stay warm by huddling together on hot water pipes and most of their days are spent begging. Andrej has found himself here because of disagreements with his family. Kristina was driven into this way of life by the hatred of her stepmother and twelve-year-old Roma by the regular beatings he received from his constantly drunk father. "When it is worst, we try to make money for food by prostitution," admits ...
Al. Tribute to Albert Maysles
Al. Tribute to Albert Maysles
Producer
Al. Tribute to Albert Maysles
Al. Tribute to Albert Maysles
Director of Photography
Al. Tribute to Albert Maysles
Al. Tribute to Albert Maysles
Director
A Railway Station Song
A Railway Station Song
Producer
A poignant image of the environment of the homeless. The film is a documentary record of the everyday life of Russian children, small refugees from orphanages who chose a street or a railway station for their home.
A Railway Station Song
A Railway Station Song
Director of Photography
A poignant image of the environment of the homeless. The film is a documentary record of the everyday life of Russian children, small refugees from orphanages who chose a street or a railway station for their home.