Pola Garance Rapaport

POLA RAPAPORT is a writer, director, and editor of many award-winning films.

Filmography: "Addicted to Life", on the dramatic life-and-death story of Paralympian Marieke Vervoort; “Nadia Comaneci: The Gymnast and the Dictator”, on the ambiguous relationship between the young “Perfect Ten” Olympic gymnast and Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu; “Hair: Let the Sun Shine In”, the definitive documentary on the musical phenomenon HAIR; “Writer of O”, portrait of the elusive author of the erotic novel Story of O; “Family Secret”, the story of discovering the filmmaker’s secret Romanian brother; “Blind Light”, hybrid documentary/drama of a photographer’s peak experience in an Italian villa, starring Edie Falco; and “Broken Meat,” B/W Sundance competition doc depicting the mad poet Alan Granville. Several of her films have been co-produced by Arte/France.

Editor of many feature documentaries, including “Museum Town” on MASS MoCA and “A Woman Like Me” starring Lily Taylor. Pola has also edited Kathy Leichter’s festival favorite “Here One Day”, on the impact of a mother’s suicide on her family and Lily Rivlin's trilogy on prominent women, including activist Heather Booth and author Grace Paley. She consulted on Kirsten Johnson’s Oscar-short-listed “Cameraperson”.

Rapaport is a recipient of a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, an Emmy nominee and winner of numerous grants and awards. She is invited to attend the Yaddo Artsts’ Colony in September 2019. She is a graduate of NYU Tisch and teaches editing there. Married to DP Wolfgang Held, with whom she has often collaborated. Dual citizen, USA/France.

John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in Film
NYC Women's Fund for Media, Music and Theatre
Yaddo artists’ retreat
New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships in Video and Film
NYSCA production and post-production grants

Courses

Sight and Sound

Education

BFA, NYU Tisch School of the Arts
Certificate of Graduation, The Gestalt Associates for Psychotherapy