Gabe Polsky (born May 3, 1979) is an American film director, writer and producer.

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Quick Facts Born, Nationality ...

Gabe Polsky
Gabe Polsky speaking at the premiere of Red Army at the 2014 AFI Film Festival
Born	(1979-05-03) 3 May 1979 (age 44)
Nationality	American
Occupations	Film director Writer Producer
Website	gabepolskyproductions.com

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Polsky was born to Soviet immigrants, and raised in the Chicago area. He attended the Hotchkiss School.^[1] After graduating, he went to Yale University, where he played NCAA hockey.^[2] He competed on Team USA in hockey at the 1997 Maccabiah Games in Israel, winning a silver medal.^[3][4]

Polsky wrote, directed, and produced the feature documentary Red Penguins, which premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was released by Universal Pictures^[5] in August 2020. Red Penguins tells the true story of opportunism run amok in Moscow shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was nominated for a Critics' Choice Movie Award and a Writers Guild of America Award.^[6]

In 2018 Polsky wrote, directed, and produced In Search of Greatness. The film features interviews with sports icons Wayne Gretzky, Pelé, and Jerry Rice. In April 2018, the film was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award.^[7][8]

In 2014, Polsky wrote, directed, and produced Red Army, a documentary film which chronicles the rise and fall of the Soviet Union through its ice hockey team. Red Army was executive produced by Jerry Weintraub and Werner Herzog, and premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.^[9] It was released in theaters by Sony Pictures Classics on January 22, 2015.^[10]

A. O. Scott of The New York Times called Red Army a "stirring, crazy story—a Russian novel of Tolstoyan sweep and Gogl-esque absurdity".^[11] Time magazine said: "this playful, poignant film presents a human story that transcends decades, borders and ideologies".^[12]

Red Army was the only documentary included in the official selections at the 2014 Cannes,^[13] Telluride,^[14] Toronto,^[15] New York,^[16] and AFI,^[17] film festivals. Red Army won audience awards at the 2014 AFI,^[18] Chicago^[19] and Middleburg^[20] film festivals.^[21]

In 2017 Polsky was an executive producer on the Genius series on National Geographic. He and his brother Alan acquired the rights to the Einstein estate and the book Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson.^[22] The series was nominated for eleven Primetime Emmy Awards.^[23]

Polsky and Alan Polsky, his brother, co-directed and produced The Motel Life (2013), starring Emile Hirsch, Dakota Fanning, and Stephen Dorff. The film was released in November 2013 and was based on the novel of the same name by Willy Vlautin.^[24] The film won three awards at its world premiere at the Rome Film Festival, including the Audience Award.^[25]

Polsky produced Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. Roger Ebert named the film as among the top 10 best mainstream films of 2009,^[26] and then included it in his list of the best films of the decade. Polsky produced His Way, an Emmy-nominated documentary about Jerry Weintraub released by HBO in 2011.

In 2021, it was announced that Polsky directed his adaptation of the John Williams novel, Butcher’s Crossing. The story is about a young Harvard University dropout who seeks his destiny out West by tying his fate to a team of buffalo hunters.^[27][28] The film, starring Nicolas Cage alongside Fred Hechinger, co-written by Liam Satre Meloy, premiered in 2022 at the Toronto International Film Festival.^[29] The film was released in theaters in October of 2023, and has received a 75% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.^[30]