Andrzej Krakowski (born 1946) is a Polish-American film producer, screenwriter, and director. His production of a 10-episode dramatic TV series We Are New York, funded by and produced for the Mayor's Office of New York, won two Emmy Awards in 2010. In 2022 Krakowski was awarded the Distinguished Pole Award in the Science Category, followed by the Distinguished Pole in the World title in 2023.
Early life
Krakowski was born in Warsaw in 1946. His father was at different times a high-ranking politician, head of national tourism, political prisoner, and finally, the production head of a government-owned film studio 'Kamera'. His mother, a radio journalist, had held several important international posts in her field. His maternal grandmother was a Polish revolutionary, killed in Auschwitz. Krakowski grew up surrounded by the powerful men of politics on the one hand, and the often politically daring creators of Polish cinema on the other. World-renowned artists, writers, and philosophers such as Diego Rivera, Pablo Picasso, Ilia Ehrenburg, Nazim Hikmet, Max Frisch, Pablo Neruda, Yves Montand and Leszek Kołakowski were just a few of the many guests at the Krakowski home.
Education
Krakowski received his education at the Polish National Film School in Łódź. He studied under several prominent film directors and worked as an intern assistant to Andrzej Wajda during the making of Ashes (1965). Attacked in the press after the March '68 student demonstrations, Krakowski was unexpectedly offered a scholarship in Hollywood. Shortly after he arrived in the U.S., he was stripped of Polish citizenship and forbidden to return to his homeland. In 2014 Krakowski received a Ph.D. from PWSFTviT (Polish National Film School) in Łódź.
Upon completing his education Krakowski joined YASNY Productions, Inc.[1] as head of production. Among films he had green-lighted and supervised production was the 1976 Oscar-nominated feature-length documentary California Reich. After leaving YASNY, he continued producing films with his own Filmtel, Inc., including Portrait of a Hitman, starring Rod Steiger and Jack Palance, and White Dragon, with Christopher Lloyd and Dee Wallace Stone. The latter was the first co-production between CBS Films and Perspektywa, a Polish government-owned studio. In less than three years, Filmtel grew from a small production company into an international production and distribution conglomerate with offices in Los Angeles, New York, London, and Sydney. Expanding into television, Filmtel co-financed and distributed such successful TV shows as The Richard Simmons Show (for 4 years #1 daily-strip show in the country) and Showtime's XIV International Championship of Magic, hosted by the legendary Tony Randall.
During 1997-2002 Krakowski, aside from his creative work, became a co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of two successful television networks: the first dual-platform (over-the-air and satellite) in Central Europe NaszaTV (now Scripps Networks) and the first US Internet TV network (ForeignTV.com) in New York.
Krakowski's latest TV production, a 10-episode dramatic TV series titled We Are New York, was nominated for four and won two Emmy Awards in 2010.[6][7]
In 2018, Krakowski wrote a play, Rejwach, and directed it at the National Jewish Theater in Warsaw, Poland.
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 the Media & Communication Arts Department at the City College of New York, where he teaches film directing, screenwriting, production, and critical studies.
