ABOUT

Pola Rader is an award-winning director, photographer and lens-based artist with Russian roots, who now resides in Germany.

2004-2009 she obtained a teaching degree for English and French philology at the Murmansk Pedagogical University.

Then she moved to Germany, where in 2014 she completed her bachelor degree in film and theatre studies from the Free University of Berlin.

In 2019 Rader graduated from the MA Film course at University of the Fine Arts Hamburg with the final film “Habitat”, an experimental documentary.

She mostly works on the border between documentary and art using film and photography as her main mediums of expression.

Over and again, she engages with social related issues, such as the interaction between society and individuals. At the same time, her art combines reality with touch of surrealism creating a kind of visual poetry.

Rader is on the board of the association "Filmkultur Schleswig-Holstein eV." and curator of the Short Film Festival "Lokale Helden" in Kiel, Germany.

She also participates in the Project "Kinolino", including film talks and screenings for children since 2017.

Pola is the founder of the film- and photostudio for children "Kleinformat".

• Filmfest Schleswig-Holstein 2017, Kiel, Germany

• Best horror movie award for “Downwind”, 10. International trash film festival 2015, Varazdin, Croatia

• 2nd best short film award for “Downwind”, social advertising festival Ladoshka 2015, Minsk, Belarus

• Nomination for the film prize Serge Daney of diffusion 2015-2016 (“Downwind”), Paris, France

• Monsters of film 2015, international film festival, Stockholm, Sweden, official short film selection

• Gitlif International film & literature festival 2015, Gurgaon, India

• Phantastisches trashfilm festival 2015, Kassel, Germany

• International short film festival Detmold 2015, Detmold, Germany

• Trash´d new wave festival 2015, Hastings, England

• International short film festival goldensun 2015, Zebbug, Malta

• Finpret festival for the preventative healthcare of students 2016, Paris, France

• International short film festival kinosmena 2016, Minsk, Belarus

• Just before midnight noir film fest 2016, USA

• Filmfest Schleswig-Holstein 2015, Kiel, Germany

• German-Russian film festival Vkratze 2015, Volgograd, Russia

• Miniature film festival 2015, Vancouver, Canada

• One minute film & video festival 2015, Auurau, Switzerland

• Västerås film festival 2015, Västerås, Sweden, official short film selection

• London shows international film festival 2015, London, England

• International short film festival Cinevana Berlin 2015, Berlin, Germany

• Open cinema 2014, international short & animation film festival, Saint Petersburg, Russia

• Kinoproba 2014, international film school festival & Workshop, Yekaterinburg, Russia

• Best short film award and best editing award for “Dreamwash”, DBA short film festival 2014, Kiel, Germany