Born in Katowice, Poland. In 2002 Ms. Polak began her studies in the Cinematography division of The Cinematography School of Moscow. In 2004 she 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 Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2004 Polak completed her documentary film, THE CHILDREN OF LENINGRADSKY. It was nominated for an Oscar® in the category of Best Short Documentary subject in 2005. Her additional works include, "My Warsaw -- Look from The East" for ARTE TV and Channe1 2 on Polish TV, where she worked as assistant to the director. Currently, Polak is producing a film about Leon Chec, an artist and soldier in WWII, as well as a follow-up film to THE CHILDREN OF LENINGRADSKY about the children living in Moscow's garbage dumps. From 1987-88 Polak worked as a stage performer in the Theatre of Entertainment, Chorzov. In 1988-91 she studied acting and theatre studies at the Acting School in Wroclav and Warsaw. She has been involved in charitable activities in Russia since 1995. In 1997 she founded and later collaborated with Active Child Aid to help the underprivileged children of Russia. She 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), 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 Polak 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". Also in 2005 she 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.  Nominated for Achievement in Documentary Short Subjects 2004: THE CHILDREN OF LENINGRADSKY - producer (w. Andrzej Celinski) 1 nomination