Ewa Puszczyńska was born and raised in Łódź. After she graduated from the English Department at the University of Łódź, she started her professional career as a teacher in both primary and secondary schools.
She accepted a job offer from one of the most prestigious and recognized Polish puppet theaters, where she became a literary researcher, editor and advisor, as well as a translator.
In 1993, she translated a play by an American playwright and puppeteer Eric Bass entitled “In My Grandmother’s Purse”. The show was later put into production, with Eric directing and Ewa working as his assistant and interpreter. After that came “Carmen” which Ewa translated and which had a very successful run in Poland and then toured Europe.
Two years later, in 1995, Ewa started working with an independent film production company “Opus Film”. Once again, she was an interpreter first, slowly but surely making her way into film production. She worked as production coordinator, was managing projects development, finally becoming an executive producer on a film entitled “Your Name is Justine”(2005) directed by Franco de Pena. In the same year, she became the head of development and production department, successfully leading international co-productions and executing projects for international companies such as Sony, Warner , RatPac Entertainment, to name a few.
She produced David Lynch’s photo sessions in Poland and when Lynch was shooting a part of his film “Inland Empire” in Poland, Ewa was his line producer.
In the years when Lodz hosted Camerimage Film Festival she produced workshops for some of the most renown cinematographers such as Phedon Papamichel, Roger Deakins, Emmanuel Lubezki, Paweł Edelman, Remi Adefarasin, Andrzej Bartkowiak, Christopher Doyle, Vilmos Zsigmond, to only name a few.
During her twenty years with Opus Film, she worked as a co-producer, executive producer and producer on over a dozen films including “Mr. Kuka’s Lessons”(2007) directed by Dariusz Gajewski, “Spring 1941”(2008) directed by Uri Barbash, “Devil’s Island”(2010) directed by Marius Holst, “The Congress”(2013) directed by Ari Folman.
In 2012, she started working with Paweł Pawlikowski on “Ida” – the film which gained international recognition, from both critics and audiences. In the United States, the film was widely praised for its acting and visual style. “Ida” won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, the first Polish feature film ever to do so. Other prestigious accolades include six European Film Awards (including Best Film) and the FIPRESCI Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Ewa and Pawlikowski worked together again on his film “Cold War”. The film was a significant artistic success, receiving positive reviews from critics. Pawlikowski won the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival, and the film received five European Film Awards (for Best Film, Screenplay, Direction, Editing, and Actress in the Leading Role). “Cold War” was also nominated for three Academy Awards (for Best Foreign Language Film, Best Director, and Best Cinematography), and also received acclaim in Poland, winning the Golden Lion at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia and seven awards at the Polish Film Awards.
In 2012, Ewa decided to part ways with Opus Film and start her own production company Extreme Emotions, to develop and produce independent films with international distribution and festival potential.
She co-produced films like “Hostages” directed by Rezo Gigineishvili (with a Georgian company 20 Steps Production), “Quo Vadis, Aida?” directed by Jasmila Zbanič, and produced “Silent Twins” directed by Agnieszka Smoczyńska, “Fools” directed by Tomasz Wasilewski, “Kill It and Leave This Town”, an art house animated project for grown up audiences directed by Mariusz Wilczyński. All films premiered at International Film Festivals, Quo Vadis Aida was nominated for the Best Picture not in the English Language Oscar.
Her most recent successes include “The Zone of Interest” directed by Jonathan Glazer(Academy Award for the Best Picture Not in the English Language) and “A Real Pain” directed by Jesse Eisenberg (Academy Award for the Best Supporting Actor for Kieran Culkin).
Last year Ewa coproduced “Crux”, a debut feature film by a female director Ulrike Tony Wahl, produced a limited TV series “Women’s Hell” for HBO and a new Paweł Pawlikowski feature under the working title “Vaterland”. Pawlikowski again won the Best Director Award in Cannes this year.
Ewa Puszczyńska is a guest lecturer at the National Film School in Łódź and Andrzej Wajda Film School in Warsaw. Used to work as a team member of Torino Film Lab. A member of the Polish Film Academy, European Film Academy and of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, she has been listed in Variety 500, a list of the 500 most influential business leaders and The Hollywood Reporter’s The Most Influential Women in International Film list.