A graduate of the Polish Film School in Łódź, he immigrated to the U.S. in 1981 and has since directed and produced over 40 documentaries. He is the founder and president of LOGTV, Ltd. Grünberg’s film School Prayer: A Community At War (1999), screened on PBS, received the National Emmy Award. It also won The Jan Karski Award in a competition which recognizes outstanding television documentaries produced on the theme of moral courage. In 2004, Grünberg received the Dream Catcher Award, to recognize his commitment to documentary filmmaking.
Slawomir Grünberg’s independent works focus on critical social, political, environmental issues, with a special interest in Jewish themes and threatened identities, and have won him international recognition.Chelyabinsk: The Most Contaminated Spot on the Planet, was awarded the Grand Prix at the International Nature & Environmental Film Festival, in Grenoble, France in 1996. In 1998, another documentary, which deals with environmental issues, From Chechnya to Chernobyl, was awarded a Grand Prix at the International Environmental Film Festival In Prague, Czech Republic and a prestigious Golden Cine Award in the US. "Fenceline: A Company Town Divided" is another environmental documentary film, awarded Best Documentary Feature by Environmental Media Association in 2003. In 2006, "Saved by Deportation: An Unknown Odyssey of Polish Jews] won Grunberg The Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Washington Jewish Film Festival.
Grünberg’s recent films include: Castaways (co-directed with Tomasz Wiśniewski), Magda(co-directed with Katka Reszke), Coming Out Polish Style (co-directed with Katka Reszke), Trans-Action (HBO Central Europe), The Peretzniks, which premiered at Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater, NYC 2010, Paint What You Remember, premiered at Toronto Jewish Film Festival 2010, and Portraits of Emotion, a film about autism, which won him many international awards including: an Expression Award at Brazil’s Disability Film Festival, Grand Prix at the International Film Festival "Integration - You and Me", Koszalin, Poland 2008, and Grand Prix at the Belgrade International Film Festival, 2010. In 2010, Slawomir co-produced and shot In the Name of Their Mothers: The Story of Irena Sendler by Mary Skinner. Docboat 2009 - Warsaw Nonfiction E-Festival, granted Slawomir a prestigious award for Internationally Acclaimed Documentary Filmmaker with Polish Roots.
Grünberg's director of photography credits include: HBO’s Legacy, which received an Academy Award Nomination for the best documentary feature in 2001, and HBO's Sister Rose's Passion, which won Best in Documentary Short at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2004 and received an Academy Award Nomination for best documentary short in 2005. As a principal director of photography Slawomir shot over 50 documentaries, five of which received Emmy Nominations and two of which received Emmy Awards. Slawomir Grunberg is a recipient of Guggenheim, New York Foundation for the Arts, and Soros Justice Media Fellowships.
In January 2013, Grünberg was working on the production of a partially animated documentary on Jan Karski - Karski & The Lords of Humanity.
He was married to a movie-maker Katarzyna Reszke.
Filmography
Coming Out Polish Style (Co-Director/Co-Producer/Director of Photography) Documentary about gay and lesbian life in contemporary Poland in light of ongoing social changes. RAGUSA Film/Polish Film Institute, 2011
Trans-Action (Director/Director of Photography) Documentary about the intimate process of transsexual transformation of Anna Grodzka, currently the only transgender MP in the world. HBO Central Europe, 2009, 72 min.
In the Name of Their Mothers: The Story of Irena Sendler by Mary Skinner (Co-Producer/Director of Photography) Irena Sendler, a Polish Catholic social worker, led an underground operation to rescue 2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto. TVP 1, 2010, 58 min.
The Peretzniks (Perecowicze) (Director/Co-Producer/Director of Photography) The film tells the story of a Jewish school in Lodz, Poland. The school was shut down following the Communist anti-Semitic campaign, which took place in Poland in 1968. TVP1, 2009, 52 and 92 min.
Paint What You Remember (Director/Producer/Director of Photography) Mayer was born in 1916 in a small shtetl: Opatow and immigrated to Canada at age 17. Mayer’s photographic memory and painting skills allowed him to meticulously recreate Jewish life in Opatow, as it was before the war. 2009, 30 min.
Portraits of Emotion: The Story of an Autistic Savant (Director/Producer/Director of Photography) This film follows 14-year-old Jonathan Lerman, an artistic prodigy who is diagnosed with autism, an Expression Award at Brazil’s Disability Film Festival, 2007, the Grand Prix at the Int. Film Festival "Integration - You and Me", Koszalin, Poland 2008, Grand Prix at the 2010 Belgrade Int. Film Festival, Serbia, 2009, 56 and 79 min
Saved by Deportation - An Unknown Odyssey of Polish Jews (Director/Co-Producer/Director of Photography) First feature-length documentary film to tell the dramatic story of Polish Jews who escaped the Holocaust through deportation to the Soviet Union. The Audience Award, Washington Jewish Film Festival, 2006, A Special Award, Jewish Film Festival, Warsaw, ‘Jewish Motifs’ 2009, 56 and 79 min.
Borderline: The People v. Eunice Baker (Director/Producer/Director of Photography) Documentary about a borderline retarded woman who was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for the alleged murder of a young child, despite evidence that the death was accidental. Best Documentary Award on a Theme on Disability at the Picture This …Festival in Calgary, Canada. PBS, Free Speech TV, Link TV, Denmark TV2, Planete Poland, 2005, 56 and 77 min.
The Legacy of Jedwabne (Director/Producer/Director of Photography) A documentary about the 1941 pogrom in Jedwabne, Poland, explores the implications of the past for present constructions and negotiations of personal, national and religious identity. Special Award at the Crossroads Film Festival, Lublin 2007; PBS, Link TV, Free Speech TV, Danish TV 2, Planete Poland, Polish TV Kultura, Al Jazeera TV, 2005. 56 and 75 min.
Sister Rose’s Passion (Director of Photography/Line Producer) The film talks about Christian-Jewish relations and Sister Rose Thering passion to educate Christians about the Jews. Oren Jacoby - Director, Best Documentary Short at the Tribeca Film Festival, Academy Award Nomination for the best documentary short in 2005, HBO, 2005
Fenceline: A Company Town Divided (Co-Producer/Director/Director of Photography). Film depicts the struggle of an African-American community in Louisiana s cancer alley to be relocated from under the shadow of a Shell refinery. 2002 San Francisco International Film Festival Award, A Winner of Vermont International Film Festival. PBS/POV 2002, 57 minutes.
Legacy (Co-Director of Photography). Filmed over five years lives of three generations of African-American family. Academy Award Nomination for the best documentary feature in 2001. HBO, 90 minutes.
School Prayer: A Community at War (Co-Producer/Director/Director of Photography) Lisa Herdahl, a Mississippi mother of five, is forced to sue her School District in order to remove the Bible from her children s classrooms. National Emmy Award, The Jan Karski Competition Award, PBS/ P.O.V. 1999. 57 minutes.
Shtetl (Second Unit Producer/Director of Photography) Memories of Jewish life in a small town in Poland and a bold look at Jewish/Polish relationship. Silver Baton for Excellence in Radio/Television Journalism by Dupont-Columbia University, Grand Prix at the Cinema du Reel Film Festival in Paris, France in 1996. PBS-Frontline. 1996. 3 hours.
Chelyabinsk - The Most Contaminated Spot on the Planet (Producer/Director/Editor/Director of Photography). A journey into the horror of nuclear contamination in the Ural region of Russia. Grand Prix - Int. Nature & Environmental Film Festival, in France, 1996, Journalistic Achievement Award, Int. Ecological Film Festival, Germany; 1995. NHK Japan, NOS the Netherlands, SWF Germany, TVP Poland, 1996, 60 minutes
Messenger to Poland (Co-Producer/Editor/Director of Photography) for WTTW s Journal - PBS. Emmy Award (local) 1989. 57 minutes.
