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Gabe Polsky

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Gabe Polsky
Gabe Polsky speaking at the premiere of Red Army at the 2014 AFI Film Festival
Born (1979-05-03) 3 May 1979 (age 45)
NationalityAmerican
Occupations
  • Film director
  • Writer
  • Producer
Websitegabepolskyproductions.com

Gabe Polsky (born May 3, 1979) is an American film director, writer, and producer.

Early life

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Gabe Polsky was born on May 3, 1979, to Ukrainian immigrants in Illinois, and he was primarily raised in the Chicago area. He attended the Hotchkiss School.[1] After graduating, he attended Yale University, where he played NCAA hockey.[2] He competed on Team USA in hockey at the 1997 Maccabiah Games in Israel, winning a silver medal.[3][4]

Career

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In 2009, Polsky produced Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans with Stephen Belafonte, Alan Polsky, Edward R. Pressman, Randall Emmett, and John Thompson.

In 2011, Polsky produced Little Birds, an indie/drama film loosely based on Anaïs Nin's Little Birds (short story collection) published in 1979. Later that year, he produced His Way, a documentary that looked into the life of Jerry Weintraub that was released on HBO.

Polsky and Alan Polsky (his brother), co-directed and produced The Motel Life (2012), that starred Emile Hirsch, Dakota Fanning, and Stephen Dorff. The film was released in November 2012 and was based on the novel of the same name by Willy Vlautin.[5] The film won three awards at its world premiere at the Rome Film Festival, including the Audience Award.[6]

In 2014, Polsky wrote, directed, and produced Red Army, a documentary film which tells the story of the rise and fall of the Soviet Union through an ice hockey team. Red Army was executive produced by Jerry Weintraub and Werner Herzog and premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.[7] Red Army was the only documentary included in the official selections at the 2014 Cannes,[8] Telluride,[9] Toronto,[10] New York,[11] and AFI,[12] film festivals. Red Army won audience awards at the 2014 AFI,[13] Chicago,[14] and Middleburg[15] film festivals.[16] It was released in theaters by Sony Pictures Classics on January 22, 2015.[17]

In 2017, Polsky was an executive producer on the Genius series on National Geographic. He and his brother Alan acquired the rights to the Einstein estate and the book Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson.[18] The series was nominated for eleven Primetime Emmy Awards.[19]

In 2018, Polsky wrote, directed, and produced In Search of Greatness. The film consists of interviews with sports icons Wayne Gretzky, Pelé, and Jerry Rice. In April 2018, the film was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award.[20][21]

Polsky wrote, directed, and produced the documentary Red Penguins, which premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was released by Universal Pictures[22] in August 2020. Red Penguins tells the true story in Moscow shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In 2020, Gabe Polsky also directed season 24, episode 21 of Storyville called Red Penguins: Murder, Money and Ice Hockey.

In 2021, it was announced that Polsky directed an adaptation of the John Williams novel, Butcher’s Crossing with Liam Satre Meloy. The film, starring Nicolas Cage alongside Fred Hechinger, it premiered in 2022 at the Toronto International Film Festival.[23] The film was released in theaters in October of 2023.

  1. ^ Patrick Z. McGavin (November 10, 2014). "CIFF 2014 Interview: Gabe Polsky on 'Red Army'". Roger Ebert. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  2. ^ Mike Rubin (December 5, 2014). "A Look Behind Hockey's Iron Curtain". Rolling Stone. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  3. ^ "Jewish Post 8 January 1997". newspapers.library.in.gov.
  4. ^ "July 31, 1997 — Jewish Historical Society of New Jersey Archives". New Jersey Jewish News.
  5. ^ Stephanie Merry (November 7, 2013). "'The Motel Life' movie review: Emile Hirsch and Stephen Dorff star as brothers in a bittersweet tale". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  6. ^ The Motel Life (2012) - Awards - IMDb, retrieved February 21, 2024
  7. ^ "RED ARMY - Festival de Cannes". www.festival-cannes.com.
  8. ^ "Red Army". Festival de Cannes. Retrieved February 12, 2016.
  9. ^ "Telluride Film Festival". Archived from the original on September 5, 2016. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
  10. ^ "Toronto International Film Festival". Archived from the original on December 4, 2014. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
  11. ^ "Red Army". Film at Lincoln Center.
  12. ^ "AFI Fest". Archived from the original on December 30, 2017. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  13. ^ "AFI Fest". Archived from the original on November 5, 2014. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
  14. ^ "Chicago International Film Festival" (PDF). Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  15. ^ "Middleburg Film Festival | Middleburg, Virginia | October 20–23, 2016". middleburgfilm.org. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  16. ^ "Middleburg Film Festival" (PDF). Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  17. ^ "Sony Pictures Classics". Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  18. ^ Michael Fleming (May 16, 2008). "Odd Lot boards Einstein film". Variety. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  19. ^ "Genius | Television Academy". July 16, 2017. Archived from the original on July 16, 2017. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
  20. ^ "Oscars: 'In Search of Greatness,' Early Doc Contender, Releases First Trailer (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. April 4, 2018. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
  21. ^ "WGA Awards: Full List of Nominations". The Hollywood Reporter. December 6, 2018. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
  22. ^ West, Jenna. "Trailer: 'Red Penguins' Examines a Wild Era of Russian Hockey". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved September 27, 2020.
  23. ^ "Butcher's Crossing". TIFF. Retrieved April 11, 2023. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
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