Paul Kowalski (born 13 May 1981) is a Polish-British film director and screenwriter based in Los Angeles.
Early life
Kowalski was born in Epsom, England to Polish immigrants and raised in North Africa, England, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Poland and across the USA. While living in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in the early 1990s, he worked as an actor for a children's program on English-language channel Saudi TV-2.[1][2]
Kowalski studied literature and writing at Brown University, where he also made his earliest films. He later received his MFA in film directing at the AFI Conservatory.[3]
In 2021, Kowalski was named one of “25 Screenwriters To Watch” by Austin Film Festival.[12][13]
In 2024, he won Grand Prize Best Director at the Rhode Island International Film Festival for his short film Sardinia, about a serious man trying to avoid catching a deadly laughing plague in a growingly polarized and dystopian society.[14] The film stars Philip Ettinger, Emmy-winner Martha Plimpton, Olek Krupa and Breeda Wool.[15] In November 2024 Patton Oswalt boarded the film as Executive Producer, calling the film "an effortlessly original piece of work" and "beyond timely”, with Deadline naming the film an Oscar contender for 2025 Best Live Action Short.[16][17]
^Stachowicz, Anna (2020-04-02). "Historia miłosna Paula i Sorel". Magazyn Wesele (Wedding Magazine) (in Polish). No. 4/56/2019/2020. Kraków, Poland. pp. 92–97.
