Sacha Polak (born 1982) is a Dutch film director.

Sacha Polak in 2011

Career

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In 2012 Polak's feature film debut Hemel played at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival. Additionally her short Brother and her step-mother Meral Uslu's film on which she was a script supervisor, all played at the festival as well.[1]

In 2014 Polak was initially going to direct the film Vita & Virginia about the love-affair between Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West but was she replaced by Chanya Button.[2]

In 2015 Polak's second film Zurich played at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival.[3]

Polak's next feature film was the movie Dirty God about a woman who sustained facial burns after an acid attack by her ex-partner.[4] This film won her the Golden Calf award for best direction at the 2019 Netherlands Film Festival.[5] The lead actress in the film, Vicky Knight, won a BAFTA Breakthrough Brits award for new talent at the 2019 British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards.[6]

Personal life

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Polak's mother died of breast cancer 11 months after she was born.[7]

Director Meral Uslu is her step-mother.

Filmography

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References

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  1. ^ "Return to Berlin: interview with director Sacha Polak". Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  2. ^ McCarthy, Esther (18 February 2018). "'Vita & Virginia' with Gemma Arterton, Elizabeth Debicki: exclusive new image and set report". Screen Daily. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  3. ^ Lodge, Guy. "Film Review: 'Zurich'". Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  4. ^ Dalton, Ben. "First look at Sacha Polak's acid attack drama 'Dirty God' (exclusive)". Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  5. ^ "Dirty God van Sacha Polak wint het belangrijkste Gouden Kalf". NRC (in Dutch). Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  6. ^ "Breakthrough Brits 2019". British Academy Film Awards. 30 October 2019. Archived from the original on 1 November 2019. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  7. ^ "VIFF 2014 Review: New Boobs". Retrieved 15 June 2015.
  8. ^ Polak, Sacha (13 February 2023). "Silver Haze". Cineuropa. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
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