Director, screenwriter, film producer, writer, educator, and cartoonist. Professor at the City University of New York, Doctor of Film Arts and the recipient of the Distinguish Pole Award 2022. Krakowski studied directing at the Polish National Film School in Łódź. Expelled from Poland during anti-Semitic purges in 1968, he continued his studies at the American Film Institute. He has made over seventy films and TV series. Director of the award-winning “Looking for Palladin”, “Farewell to My Country”, “Campfire Stories”, “The Politics of Cancer”. Producer of the Oscar-nominated “California Reich”, and the winner of two Emmy awards for the series “We Are New York”. Author of screenplays to eighteen feature films including: “Triumph of the Spirit”, “Eminent Domain”, “Managua”, “Tides of War”, “Genghis Khan” and the highest grossing film in Polish film history “By Fire and Sword”, as well as such books as: “Pollywood: jak stworzyliśmy Hollywood” [Pollywood: How Poles Created Hollywood], “Pollywood II: uciekinierzy w raju” [Pollywood. Volume II. Refugees in Paradise], “Bronisław Kaper: od początku do końca” [Bronislaw Kaper: from the beginning to the end, bi-lingual “Polish Oscars” and “The World Through the Eye of a Screenwriter”. Author and director of several successful plays such as: “Felix the Cat Musical Journey” in Tokyo, “Rejwach” in Warsaw, and co-producer of the popular Broadway rock opera “King David”. In the eighties, he was a cartoonist of the “Business of Film” bi-continental industry magazine (London and Los Angeles). Currently his cartoons appear on the blogs “Foreign Confidential” and “Reunion ‘68”. His bi-lingual album of cartoons “Hole in the Whole/Dziura w całym” has been published by Blue Bird Publishers in 2017.
Aside from his creative and pedagogical work, Krakowski is a successful businessman. He was a co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of two successful television networks: the first dual platform (over-the-air and satellite) in Poland NaszaTV (now Scripps Networks) and the first US Internet TV network (now IA Global) in New York. He currently serves as Senior Scientific Advisor to the World Scan Project.
Krakowski is the former Chair of Media & Communication Arts Department at CCNY, where (since 2003) he teaches screenwriting, directing and critical studies.
