Gennadi Ivanovich Poloka (russian: Генна́дий Ива́нович Поло́ка; 15 July 1930, Kuybyshev – 5 December 2014,

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

) was a Soviet and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n film director, screenwriter, producer and actor.

People's Artist of Russia People's Artist of the Russian Federation (russian: Народный артист Российской Федерации, ''Narodnyy artist Rossiyskoy Federatsii''), also sometimes translated as National Artist of the Russian Federation, is an h ...

(1998). IV Class

Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" The Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" (russian: Орден «За заслуги перед Отечеством», ''Orden "Za zaslugi pered Otechestvom"'') is a state decoration of the Russian Federation. It was instituted on 2 March 1994 by P ...

(2011).

Early years

Gennadi Poloka was born in Kuybyshev (now

Samara Samara ( rus, Сама́ра, p=sɐˈmarə), known from 1935 to 1991 as Kuybyshev (; ), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with ...

). His family name comes from his Slovak great-grandfather who left

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

for the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

just before the start of the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, saving from ethnic cleansing of

Slavs Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...

. Poloka commented on his ethnicity: ''I come from a multinational family: there were

Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in Ce ...

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

Ukrainians Ukrainians ( uk, Українці, Ukraintsi, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. They are the seventh-largest nation in Europe. The native language of the Ukrainians is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian. The majority ...

... I have a strange surname. Every time I arrive in some country, there's always a question at the press-conference about my ethnicity. But I have a straight answer: 'I am Russian'. I really love Russia and can't live more than ten days abroad''. Poloka decided to become a film director since the age of 10, after he saw The Great Waltz. He survived the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

in evacuation in

Novosibirsk Novosibirsk (, also ; rus, Новосиби́рск, p=nəvəsʲɪˈbʲirsk, a=ru-Новосибирск.ogg) is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the Russian Census ...

, together with his mother.

Education

After the end of war Poloka tried to enter director's courses, but was rejected for being too young. From 1947 to 1951 he studied at the

Mikhail Shchepkin Higher Theatre School The Mikhail Semyonovich Shchepkin Higher Theatre School (Institute) is a drama school associated with the Maly Theatre (Moscow), State Academic Maly Theatre in Moscow. It was established in 1809 by decree of Alexander I of Russia. History Sin ...

, actor's lab. In 1957 he graduated from

VGIK The Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (russian: Всероссийский государственный институт кинематографии имени С. А. Герасимова, meaning ''All-Russian State Institute of Cinemat ...

, finally becoming a film director.

Career

Poloka started his career in cinematography in 1956. He directed several documentary films and worked as an assistant director with

Grigori Aleksandrov Grigori Vasilyevich Aleksandrov or Alexandrov (russian: Григо́рий Васи́льевич Алекса́ндров; original family name was Мормоненко or Mormonenko; 23 January 1903 – 16 December 1983) was a prominent Soviet ...

, Mikhail Romm,

Boris Barnet Boris Vasilyevich Barnet (russian: Бори́с Васи́льевич Ба́рнет; 18 June 1902 – 8 January 1965) was a Soviet film director, actor and screenwriter of British heritage. He directed 27 films between 1927 and 1963. Barne ...

and others. In 1962 a children's movie ''

Kapron Fishnet Nylon 6 or polycaprolactam is a polymer, in particular semicrystalline polyamide. Unlike most other nylons, nylon 6 is not a condensation polymer, but instead is formed by ring-opening polymerization; this makes it a special case in the comparis ...

'' was released, co-directed by Poloka and

Levan Shengeliya Levan can refer to: Places * Levan, Berat, a village in the municipality of Berat, Berat County, Albania *Levan, Fier, a village in the municipality of Fier, Fier County, Albania * Levan, Gjirokastër, a village in the municipality of Memaliaj, Gji ...

. Four years later he directed his first independent feature – ''

The Republic of ShKID ''The Republic of ShKID'' (russian: Республика ШКИД) is an adventure, partly autobiographical children's novel by and written in 1926 and printed in 1927. The book is about the fate of Russian street boys (''besprizorniks'') wh ...

'' based on the acclaimed

children's novel Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

by two former orphans (who served as screenwriters). It became one of the leaders of the Soviet box office in 1967. Between 1967 and 1968 Poloka worked on '' Intervention'' based on the drama of the same name by Lev Slavin. It was not released for political reasons until 1989. Poloka later worked in various genres: adventure film (''One of Us''), comedy-romance (''Melody for Two Voices''), criminal comedy ('' Was There Karotin?'') and adventure comedy (''

The Return of the Battleship , image = The Return of the Battleship.jpg , caption = , director = Gennadi Poloka , producer = , writer = , starring = , music = Veniamin Basner , cinematography = Yevgeniy Davydov , ...

''), which Poloka also wrote and produced. Between 1976 and 1980 he worked at

Studio Ekran Studio Ekran (russian: Творческое объединение «Экран», or simply, “творческое «ЭКРАН» объединение, Artistical Joint "Ekran") was a Russian (Soviet Union's until 1991) TV film studio. It was ...

as the head of the Musical Films Studio department. In 1996 he was awarded a prize by the presidential council film festival

Kinotavr Kinotavr (russian: Кинотавр), also known as the Sochi Open Russian Film Festival is an open film festival held in the resort city of Sochi, Russia annually in June since 1991, until it was cancelled in the wake of the 2022 Russian invasio ...

. In addition, he appeared in films as an actor.

Death

Gennadi Poloka died at the age of 84 in Moscow in 2014. He was buried at

Vagankovo Cemetery Vagankovo Cemetery (russian: Ваганьковское кладбище, Vagan'kovskoye kladbishche), established in 1771, is located in the Presnya district of Moscow. It started in the aftermath of the Moscow plague riot of 1771 outside the cit ...

.Celebrities' Tombs
/ref> He was survived by his wife Olga and two daughters, Natalia and Veronika.

Selected filmography

References

External links

* '' Alexander Fedorov''
Постскриптум к прошлому (1991)

Интервью: Концерт Высоцкого для всей Одессы
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Poloka, Gennadi 1930 births 2014 deaths People's Artists of Russia Russian film directors 20th-century Russian screenwriters 20th-century Russian male writers Male screenwriters Russian male writers Russian cinematographers Place of death missing Soviet film directors Soviet screenwriters Soviet cinematographers Academic staff of High Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography alumni Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 4th class Burials at Vagankovo Cemetery