Oscar is the Holy Grail in the land of the X muse. Polish artists also shone in its splendor – deservedly. Wajda, Pawlikowski, Polański, Starski, Kaczmarek, Braun and Kamiński – these are names that are associated with Poland in the film world. But do we know that the first woman nominated for an Oscar for directing was a Polish – Wanda Jakubowska, that the famous Max Factor was born in Zduńska Wola, and Bronisław Kaper, an outstanding Hollywood composer and winner of a statuette for music to the film “Lili”, graduated from a Warsaw high school, and in the same Warsaw, the Oscar-winning producer Goldwyn was born? A whole bunch of dreamers who built one of the most powerful industries in the world, the film industry governing our imaginations, were from Poland or lands associated with Poland. Andrzej Krakowski’s “Polish Oscars” is a book mainly devoted to them, but not only. It is a richly illustrated story about the creation and development of this legendary award…

Andrzej Krakowski (born 1946) is an American award-winning film producer, screenwriter, and director of Polish descent. His production of a 10-episode dramatic TV series We Are New York, which was funded by and produced for the Mayor’s Office of New York, won two Emmy Awards in 2010.

Krakowski is one of the founders of the highly regarded (5 student Oscars within its first 8 years) SUNY-Purchase film program. He is currently a tenured professor and the former Chair of Media & Communication Arts Department at the City College of New York, where he teaches film directing, screenwriting, production, and critical studies.

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