307 Spring Street #2F New
York, NY 10013 e-mail:
polarap@gmail.com
Tel: 212-620-0029 Mobile: 646 391-1706 www.blindinglightfilms.com
John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in Film
(2002)
New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in
Video/Film (2002 & 1991)
Independent Films
HAIR: Let the Sun Shine
In
Documentary on the phenomenal 40-year old musical. 54 minutes, color,
Produced by Ina, Blinding Light & Arte/France
Festivals: Amsterdam IDFA
Broadcasts: Arte/France & Germany; RTBF/ Belgium, 2007;
purchased for Finland, Italy & Canada
“Without exception, it is the best HAIR film I have ever seen.”
–Michael Butler, Producer of HAIR
“Wondeful work!” – Milos
Forman
Writer of O
Documentary on the hidden author of the French erotic classic, Story of O . 80 minutes,
color, Super-16 film & DV, 2004. Theatrical & DVD distribution:
Zeitgeist Films. Currently in DVD release across the US.
Produced by INA, France , Blinding
Light, Inc and Arte/France.
Prizes: Grand Prix, Best
Documentary, URTI, Monte Carlo 2005
Festivals: Toronto Int’l Film
Festival (world premiere), Amsterdam IDFA • Jerusalem Int’l Film Festival •
FIPA • Seattle
• Denver • Newport • Wisconsin •
Indianapolis et al
Screenings: Mini-INPUT, Santiago,
Chile, 2007 • INPUT, Taiwan, 2006 • Film Forum, NYC (US theatrical premiere) • Philoctetes, NY Psychoanalytic Institute
Broadcast: Arte/France & Germany, RTBF/ Belgium,
2004; YLE/Finland 2005; Sundance Channel/US, 2007
“Audacious” – L’HUMANITE “Combines with virtuosity the filmmaker’s
search, dramatizations of the book, and the quiet sweetness of Dominique Aury” – LIBERATION
“Remarkable intelligence… magnificent” – LE MONDE
September Eleventh:
Eyewitnesses
Documentary on personal accounts of the attacks on New York. 10 minutes, color
super-8, 2002
Screenings: Walker Art Center•
Wisconsin Film Festival• Under Ground Zero • Hamptons
International Film Festival • Montreal Festival of New Media • Library of
Congress Exhibition Broadcast: Sundance Channel, 2002
Family Secret
Documentary on the reunion of the filmmaker with her long-lost
Romanian brother, their father's "family secret".
58 minutes, color & b/w 16mm/ DV, 2000. Produced by Blinding Light, Inc and La Sept Arte
French TV.
Prizes: Best Documentary of the Year Grand Prix
SCAM (Société Civile des Auteurs Multimédia, France), 2001
Festivals: Rotterdam • Gothenburg •
Hot Docs Toronto • Leipzig • Denver • Mill Valley • NY DOCFEST • Wisconsin
• San Francisco, Toronto and Washington Jewish Film Festivals •
Walker Art Center
Broadcasts: WDR/Germany 2002;
Arte/France & Germany 2000; Sundance Channel/US, 2001
"This astonishing autobiographical document blends black
& white with color, love, humor, bitterness and hope."
-LE MONDE.
"Engrossing... offers a unique and intimate view of war,
displacement and immigration as the 20th Century's great dividers"- VARIETY "Heartfelt...
chronicles the filmmaker's search for family ties and the Romanian brother she
never knew she had."- VILLAGE VOICE
Blind Light
Documentary/ drama. Starring
Emmy Award Winner Edie Falco and featuring Per Myrberg and Richard Hell.
58 minutes, color and b/w 16mm, 1998. Produced by Blinding Light,
Inc.
Distributed by Choices Video. Currently in DVD release
across the US.
Prizes: Lumiere Award, New Orleans Film
Festival 2000
Broadcasts: Arte/France & Germany 2004; Independent
Film Channel US 2001; RAI/Italy 2000; YLE/Finland 1999
Festivals: Denver • Wisconsin • SxSW • Gothenburg •
Amsterdam Doc • Mill Valley • Walker Art Center
"Beautifully shot and artfully composed...a haunting,
lyrical, hypnotic work"--Austin Chronicle
"Magic... A wonderful achievement"--Bo Smith, Curator,
Boston Museum of Fine Arts
Broken Meat
Documentary portrait of Bukowski-style
beat poet Alan Granville. 50 min., 16mm b/w, 1990.
Prizes: Critics' Prize/ Leningrad Film Festival • Ivens
Prize Nominee / Amsterdam Documentary Festival• Best Cinematography/ Oberhausen• Best Documentary/ New Orleans • Special Jury
Prize/Hawaii Film Festival
Festivals, Screenings: • Sundance
Film Festival •Edinburgh • Pesaro • Cork • Munich Filmmuseum
• Flaherty Seminar
Broadcasts: Sundance Channel, '98; WNET/ Ch 13 Reel New
York '96; SBS/Australia '93; ZDF/Germany '92
"Funky, excellent, neo-beatnik... A must see, especially
for poets" - Baltimore City Paper
"A visual joy" - Chicago New Paper "Wonderful!"- Kurt Vonnegut "Perfect
documentary" - Park City Paper
Early short films
Joanna's Jobs 9 min. 1987 Prize winner at Seattle and Cleveland
Film Festival
Tooth and Mask 12 min. 1986 Max Ophuls
Preis Saarbrücken Film
Festival
Lenore Tawney's "Cloud Series #VIII" 10 min. 1984 0,1,1,2,3,5; or, the Walls Have the Floor 44
min. 1983
Pool 25 min. 1978; with Ally
Sheedy Reflexive
Francis Film 17 min. 1976
Other Broadcasts and Screenings
WNET/Channel 13 Independent Focus, 1988 & 1989 • Pacific
Film Archives •Artists Space •Edinburgh Film Festival • Cleveland •Aspen • Saarbrücken • Uppsala Film Festivals
One-Woman Shows:
MoMA, New York • Walker Art Center • Berlin Arsenal •French Cinematheque •Metropolis Kino, Hamburg • Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam • Millennium, New York
Grants and Fellowships
John Simon Guggenheim '02 • NYFA '02, '91 • NYSCA '93, '91 • Jerome Fdtn
'00, '98 & '90 • Art Matters, '94, '88
Education
BFA at NYU Tisch School of the Arts
Languages
French, Italian, German, Portuguese
Dual Citizen
USA/ France