Gennadi Poloka
| Gennadi Poloka | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Gennadi Invanovich Poloka July 15, 1930 Kuybyshev, RSFSR, Soviet Union (now Russia) |
| Died | December 5, 2014 (aged 84) Moscow, Russia |
| Other names | Egor Gorashchenko (alias) |
| Occupation | Film director, screenwriter, actor |
| Years active | 1956–2010 |
Gennadi Ivanovich Poloka (Russian: Генна́дий Ива́нович Поло́ка; 15 July 1930, Kuybyshev – 5 December 2014, Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. People's Artist of Russia (1998). IV Class Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" (2011).
Gennadi Poloka was born in Kuybyshev (now Samara). His family name comes from his Slovak great-grandfather who left Austria-Hungary for the Russian Empire just before the start of the World War I, saving from ethnic cleansing of Slavs. Poloka commented on his ethnicity: «I come from a multinational family: there were Poles, Germans, Ukrainians... 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 in evacuation in Novosibirsk, together with his mother.
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 M.S. Schepkin Higher Theatre School (Institute), actor's lab. In 1957 he graduated from VGIK, finally becoming a film director.
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