Gabe Polsky

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

Early life
Polsky was born by Ukrainian immigrants in Illinois tho he was primarily raised in the Chicago area. He attended the Hotchkiss School. After graduating, he went to Yale University, where he played NCAA hockey. He competed on Team USA in hockey at the 1997 Maccabiah Games in Israel, winning a silver medal.

Career
In 2021, it was announced that Polsky directed an adaptation of the John Williams novel, Butcher’s Crossing with Liam Satre Meloy. The film, starring Nicolas Cage alongside Fred Hechinger, it premiered in 2022 at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film was released in theaters in October of 2023.

Gabe Polsky also directed 1 episode of Storyville in 2020 called Red Penguins: Murder, Money and Ice Hockey in season 24 episode 21.

Polsky wrote, directed, and produced the documentary Red Penguins, which premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was released by Universal Pictures in August 2020. Red Penguins tells the true story in Moscow shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

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

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

Red Army was the only documentary included in the official selections at the 2014 Cannes, Telluride, Toronto, New York, and AFI, film festivals. Red Army won audience awards at the 2014 AFI, Chicago and Middleburg film festivals.

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. The series was nominated for eleven Primetime Emmy Awards.

Polsky and Alan Polsky (his brother), co-directed and produced The Motel Life (2012), that starred Emile Hirsch, Dakota Fanning, and Stephen Dorff. The film was released in November 2012 and was based on the novel of the same name by Willy Vlautin. The film won three awards at its world premiere at the Rome Film Festival, including the Audience Award.

Polsky produced in 2011 Little Birds an indie/drama film loosely based on Anaïs Nin's "erotic" short stories of the same name published in 1979. Later that year he produced His Way, a documentary that looked into the life of Jerry Weintraub that was released on HBO in 2011.

In 2009 Polsky produced Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans with Stephen Belafonte, Alan Polsky, Edward R. Pressman,Randall Emmett, and John Thompson.