Paul Kowalski
Writer / Director
BIOGRAPHY
Paul Kowalski is an award-winning writer-director whose films explore identity, exile and obsession, often through dark psychologies and the supernatural.
His most recent film SARDINIA was Academy Award long-listed in 2025. Executive Producer Patton Oswalt praised it as “an effortlessly original piece of work…beyond timely”, while Omeleto dubbed it “a modern Kafka fable for our times”. Starring FIRST REFORMED’s Philip Ettinger and Emmy-winner Martha Plimpton, the film won Best Director at Flickers Rhode Island before being nominated at Raindance and at Strasbourg Fantastic Fest for a Silver Méliès.
Kowalski’s 2021 debut feature PAPER TIGER won the Audience Award and a Jury Prize at Austin Film Festival; it was subsequently sold by Gersh and released on Amazon, scoring Kowalski a spot on Austin’s “25 Screenwriters to Watch” list.
Born in the UK to Polish immigrants, Paul grew up in England, the Middle East, Poland, Africa, Southeast Asia and across America – sparking a natural impulse to reconcile contrasting views of the world. Studying literature and writing at Brown University, he published a collection of short stories and made his earliest films, then later received his MFA from the AFI Conservatory.
Kowalski’s films have won international recognition from the ASC, Beijing Film Academy and CINE, as well as the Canadian Cinematheque, Aesthetica, deadCENTER, Cinequest and Indy Shorts film festivals, among others. He’s also a two-time BAFTA Newcomer and filmmaking lecturer at institutes like USC, AFI, VCFA/CalArts, Nostos in Italy, and art institutes in China.
A British, Polish and US citizen, Kowalski lives in LA with his wife, actress Sorel Carradine, and their young son.
