Directory Profile

Paul Kowalski is an award-winning writer-director whose films center around identity, exile and obsession, often featuring dark psychologies and the supernatural. His film "Sardinia" won Best Director at the Oscar- and BAFTA-qualifying 2024 Flickers Rhode Island International Film Festival. His 2021 feature "Paper Tiger" won the Audience Award and a Jury Prize at the Austin Film Festival, and was subsequently sold by Gersh and distributed onto Amazon.

Born in the UK to Polish immigrants, Paul grew up in England, the Middle East, Poland, Africa, Southeast Asia and across America – sparking a natural impulse to reconcile contrasting views of the world. Studying literature and writing at Brown University, he published a collection of short stories and made his earliest films, then later received his MFA from the AFI Conservatory. Kowalski’s films have won recognition from the ASC, Beijing Film Academy and CINE, as well as screening at the Canadian Cinematheque, Aesthetica, Indy Shorts, Flickers Rhode Island, Raindance, Austin and Beverly Hills film festivals, among others.

Paul is also a two-time BAFTA Newcomer, frequent lecturer at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts – and named by Austin Film Festival and Writer’s Conference as one of “25 Screenwriters To Watch” in 2021. He is a Polish, British and US citizen, and lives in LA with his wife, actress Sorel Carradine, and their newborn son.