Work & Publications
At Deutsche Welle I am currently working as a TV producer in English for a health magazine and for the French version of an African environmental magazine.
In addition to scripts and treatments, I also write books and plays.
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Film
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In the mid-1990s I went beyond watching movies and turned to film as a medium.
At the New York Film Academy I made the short film GOTTA GET THE RIGHT BOOK, that is I did the script, directing and editing.
“To be responsible for your own film all around is really exhausting. But it is all worth it when the audience laughs in the right places during the screenings. What a great feeling.”
Theater
On 11 October 2008 my adaptation of the novel “The Adoration of the Lizard or how to Destroy Angels” premiered at the German National Theater in Weimar under the direction of Nora Schlocker and remained in the repertoire for two years.
“The Orange Revolution took place on the Majdan in 2004. When I was visiting in 2007, Ukraine was in still restless. I saw young people full of energy and hope. But I did not trust the peace. Lubko Deresh’s book spoke from my soul. I had this urgency and luckily the ability to bring his story to the stage.”
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Books
My latest publication deals with the life story of my father Stanislaw. In LWÓW, A CITY LOST I follow the traces of his childhood and youth in the former Polish metropolis.
His gripping and fascinating story before and during the Second World War ends with the expulsion of his family, and finally leads him into American exile, which would become Stanislaw Szybalski’s new homeland.
“My Father was already retired when he got his first computer. One of the first things he did was write down chapters of his life in Polish. For the first time I could read in detail about his youth. What fascinated me in his memories was how he remained true to his childlike world of thoughts and spirit. From this perspective I was able to understand how much children of war, despite bombs, occupation and constant danger to their lives, have an insistent urge to “be a child”. My father’s need to establish an age-appropriate normality at that time is so full of touching episodes that, despite the many tragedies in his life, I am grateful to him for his honesty and openness. I wrote this book because I wanted to convey this positive feeling to others.”