Main Competition juror. Polak graduated from the cinematography department at Moscow’s VGIK film school under the guidance of eminent cinematographer Vadim Yusov, who worked with Andrei Tarkovsky and other renowned Russian directors. In 2003 Polak received the Bolesław Chrobry Best Producer Prize at the Krakow Film Festival. A year later her “The Children of Leningradsky” was nominated for the Academy Award as well as for two Emmy categories, winning the International Documentary Award and a number of other prizes. “Stone Silence” won Polak an award for Artistic Mastery of Photography at the 2005 Kiev Film Festival. In 2009 she came third in UNICEF’s International Photography Competition: Photo of the Year. Polak is the recipient of the prestigious Crystal Mirror award of the Zwierciadło [Mirror] magazine and the Heart of Gold, awarded by the Russian NTV station for “service to the noblest ideals of humankind”. Her other movies include “Al. Tribute to Albert Mayles”, “Faces of Homelessness”, “Warsaw Battle 1920 in 3D”, and “Love and Rubbish”. Her latest documentary, “Something Better to Come”, won a total of 40 awards at film festivals worldwide, including the Special Jury Award at the Amsterdam IDF and the Main Prize at the 12th Millennium Docs Against Gravity; it was also nominated to the PGA Award.
