Born in Ukraine, raised in Nigeria, Polina Buchak is a New York-based filmmaker who focuses on diverse and inclusive storytelling by blending new technologies into traditional mediums.

Her short film Pool Party is had its online premiere on GirlSoup and won many awards, including Best Original Story at Independent Shorts Awards and Audience Choice Award at New Faces New Voices film festival. She was an Associate Producer for AGGIE, directed and produced by Emmy-nominated Catherine Gund, a documentary which explores the nexus of art, race, and justice through the story of art collector and philanthropist Agnes Gund’s life. The film premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2020. Polina has produced a number of short films that were screened at Woodstock Film Festival, Urbanworld Film Festival, Athena Film Festival, DOC NYC, and more. She’s currently on a festival tour with her animated short film Sunflower Field that explores how the child psyche is impacted during war.

As a Producer at honto88, Polina has worked with brands like David Yurman, Netflix, The Meteor, and Planned Parenthood as well as musicians like Anna Rose and Running Lights. She is an active volunteer at Razom for Ukraine, a NYC-based non-profit, creating content in effort to raise funds for humanitarian aid for Ukraine.

Polina holds a BFA in Film & TV from NYU Tisch School of the Arts with a minor in Integrated Digital Media.