FILMS   

The Children of Leningradsky

Andrzej Celinski, Hanna Polak / Poland / 2005 / 35 min

Its Oscar nomination has made "Children of Leningradsky" one of the best-known Polish documentaries in recent years. This harsh and close-up portrait of a group of homeless children from a Moscow train station is a condensed and dramatic depiction of the lives of tens of thousand of their like existing in the Russian capital with several million more in post-Soviet states. Hanna Polak and Andrzej Celi?ski's film is candidly explicit and even contains a drastic scene of police brutality. Andrey, Sasha and Kristina's only escape out of this nightmarish reality is sniffing glue - just one of the grave dangers they encounter in their daily lives.
Hanna Polak

In 2002 Hanna began her studies in the Cinematography division of The Cinematography School of Moscow. In 2004 Hanna completed work on her first independent short film on the life of legendary filmmaker Albert Maysles entitled, Al. Al first opened at the Documentary Film Festival in Krakow, Poland, where Albert Maysles received his Life-Time Achievement Award.

In 2004 Hanna completed her documentary film, The Children of Leningradsky. The Children of Leningradsky was nominated for an Oscar in the category of Best Short Documentary subject in 2005.
Hanna's additional works include, "My Warsaw - Look From The East" for ARTE TV and Channel 2 on Polish TV, where she worked as assistant to the director.
Currently, Hanna is producing a film about Leon Chec, an artist and soldier in WWII and a follow up film to The Children of Leningradsky about the children living in Moscow's garbage dumps.
Hanna was born in 1967 in Katowice, Poland. From 1987-88 she worked as a stage performer in the Theatre of Entertainment, Chorzov. In 1988-91 Hanna studied acting and theatre studies at the Acting School in Wroclav and Warsaw. Hanna has been involved in charitable activities in Russia since 1995. In 1997 Hanna founded and later collaborated with Active Child Aid to help the underprivileged children of Russia. Hanna uses her photography to help the Russian children. Her photographs have been printed in various magazines and newspapers including, Ogonyok (Russia), The Moscow Times (Russia), Avisa Norland (Norway), Olivia (Poland), Przekroj (Poland), Los Angeles Times (USA), Nowy Dziennik (USА), Kurier Plus (USA), Newsweek (Poland), Super Express (Poland) and others.
Her work as a freelance cinematographer has been featured on ABC TV, France-2, Fuji TV (Japan), ITN (England), TVN (Poland) and various Russian TV stations.
Her work is also featured on HBO and Canal +, Belgian Radio and TV and other TV channels.
In 2002 Hanna has received the award for The Best Producer of Documentary and Short Films at the Documentary Film Festival in Krakow.
In 2005 she was awarded the Crystal Mirror award by the Zwierciadlo magazine in Poland, the award for the "people of dialogue, those who are uniting, not dividing".
In 2005 Hanna was a jury member at the Documentary Film Festival in Krakow and she has received the "Platinum Goat" award at the festival "Ale Kino" in Poznan, Poland.

Andrzej Celinski

Andrzej Celinski was born in Cracow Poland June 28, 1961.
He graduated the State Theater Academy in Cracow where he has got diploma at Actors Faculty (1984.)
In 1995 he finished at State Theater Academy a Faculty of Drama and TV Directing. He directed several succesfull theater performances in Polish and Czech Republic theaters. In 1997 he has directed a play "Szeherezada or disco- polo live" which won a contest for the best comic play of a year. Performance has got an award in CONTEST FOR THE BEST PERFORMANCE OF CONTEMPORARY POLISH DRAMA. In 1999 he wrote a play "Homlet" which was entusiasticly accepted by critics. He directed
"Homlet" which won an award in 2002 edition of CONTEST FOR THE BEST PERFORMANCE OF CONTEMPORARY POLISH DRAMA.
In 2002 he made in Czech Republick a performance "Mouth of Mick Jagger" which won on festival in Prague very prestigious award "Muza Thalie" for the best comic performance of a sezon in 2002/2003.
Andrzej has produced and directed several documentary films in Poland; "Grey" about the art of photography, "Crazy World" which focused on young people creating experimental films and participating in a film contest, and "Time for Theater" about new trends in polisch theater.
In 2000 he was invited by Hanna Polak to Moscow where he started to film homless children living in Moscow's railway stations. In 2004 Hanna and Andrzej completed "The Children of Leningradsky."