Larysa Kondracki

Larysa Kondracki is a Canadian producer, director and screenwriter.[1][2] Her debut feature film, The Whistleblower, was released in 2011 and received nominations for six Genies at the 32nd Genie Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.[3] She has received international accolades for reporting true stories of victims of trafficking in the former Yugoslavia.[4]

Larysa Kondracki
Larysa Kondracki
Born
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Alma materMcGill University
Columbia University
Occupation(s)producer, director, screenwriter

Life

Kondracki is originally from Toronto; she studied English literature and theatre at McGill University, graduating in 1999.[5] She later completed a second BA in film directing at Columbia University, graduating in 2001.[6][7][8] She also studied at the MFA in film program at Columbia University School of the Arts until 2006.[9]

Based in Los Angeles, Kondracki has written projects for Focus Features, HBO Films, Participant Media, and Showtime Entertainment, among others.[6]

Work

Kondracki's career kicked off with her breakout short film, "Viko," about a seventeen-year-old boy in Yugoslavia, who, struggling to earn money for a new life with his girlfriend, finds himself tangled in a web of sex trafficking. "Viko"'s success in the film festival circuit brought Kondracki long success as a director and storyteller.[10][11]

Kondracki's debut feature film, The Whistleblower, is a based-on-truth crime drama about Kathryn Bolkovac, "who, while working in Bosnia with a private US military contractor under UN jurisdiction, uncovered sex-slavery rings, implicating local police, a number of her colleagues and other foreign nationals.”[12] Kondracki said to Indie Wire, about the crime thriller storytelling style she chose: "When you put together the words Bosnia, peacekeepers and sex-trafficking, people assume it’s going to be either 'educational' or 'important,' in other words: medicinal. But the truth is, Kathy’s story was incredible. It brought to mind my favorite political thrillers, and I felt it lent itself to that kind of telling.”[13]

Kondracki spoke about her effort to portray the "exhaustion" of inflicting violence in an interview with FF2 Media's Jan Huttner. "In some of the reviews we've gotten, they say that The Whistleblower is too black and white, and it's just evil, and this and that. But I don't see it as a black and white thing: there are good women and bad men, and good men and bad women, and we did that on purpose because it isn't so black and white.”[14]

The Whistleblower was nominated for six Genie Awards, and nominated for major awards at the Seattle International Film Festival and the Palm Springs International Film Festival.[10] It signaled Kondracki's role as an activist and advocate for women. "I think the movie has a relevance beyond just making one think," said Kondracki to The Coast Halifax. "I plan to be a large pest.”[12]

Kondracki has since directed and produced episodes of many television shows, among them The Walking Dead, Better Call Saul, Rogue, The Americans, and Graceland.[15][16]

In 2015, Nimbus publishing announced that the film rights for the book Haunted Girl: Esther Cox and the Great Amherst Mystery by Laurie Glenn Norris had been sold to a project led by Kondracki.[17]

In 2018, Kondracki signed a First Look television deal with Amazon. Kondracki directed episodes of the TV series Picnic at Hanging Rock, which involved her in an Australian nationalist debate about direction for the iconic Australian story.[18][19]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Director Writer Notes
2009 Viko Yes Yes Short film
2010 The Whistleblower Yes Yes

Television

YearTitleNotes
2015The AmericansSeason 3, Episode 10: "Stingers"
Better Call Saul2 episodes
The Walking DeadSeason 5, Episode 11: "The Distance"
ReignSeason 2, Episode 12: "Banished"
2014–2015Halt and Catch Fire2 episodes
2014The DivideSeason 1, Episode 8: "To Whom Evil Is Done"
GracelandSeason 2, Episode 10: "The Head of the Pig"
2013–2014Covert Affairs3 episodes
Rogue6 episodes
2013Copper7 episode
Also executive producer (13 episodes)
2016GothamSeason 2, Episode 19: "Azrael"
2017LegionSeason 1, Episode 4: "Chapter 4"
2018Picnic at Hanging Rock3 episodes, showrunner[20]
2019The FixSeason 1, Episode 1: "Pilot"
2022Power Book IV: ForceSeason 1, Episode 1: "A Short Fuse and a Long Term Memory"

References
  1. Exclusive Interview With Larysa Kondracki On The Whistleblower «The Whistleblower»
  2. Smith, Janet (August 17, 2011). "Whistleblow director Larysa Kondracki aims for change". The Georgia Straight.
  3. "Cafe de flore, A Dangerous Method lead the field for Genie Awards". PlayBack, January 17, 2012.
  4. Todres, Jonathan (20 January 2016). "Movies and myths about human trafficking". The Conversation. Retrieved 2021-07-10.
  5. "Blowing the whistle on sex trafficking". mcgillnews.mcgill.ca. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  6. Van Kann, Felix (March 24, 2020). "Alumna Larysa Kondracki '01 GS Executive Produces Them: Covenant". Columbia School of the Arts. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
  7. "Alumna Larysa Kondracki '01 (GS) executive produces 'Them: Covenant'". Columbia - School of the Arts. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  8. "A New Lens: Celebrating GS Alumnae in Film and Television | School of General Studies". gs.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  9. "FILM_Larysa Kondracki '01 (GS) to Direct Mini-Series, 'Picnic at Hanging Rock'". Columbia - School of the Arts. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  10. "Larysa Kondracki". BBC America. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  11. Viko (2009) - IMDb, retrieved 2020-04-20
  12. Knox, Carsten. "The Whistleblower and Larysa Kondracki". The Coast Halifax. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  13. Smith, Nigel M.; Smith, Nigel M. (2011-08-02). "IN HER OWN WORDS | Director Larysa Kondracki Shares an Exclusive Scene from "The Whistleblower"". IndieWire. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  14. Huttner, Jan (August 10, 2011). "Jan & Rich Chat With Larysa Kondracki" (PDF). FF2 Media. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
  15. Collins, Sean T. (April 5, 2016). "'Better Call Saul' 2×08 Recap: Masterpiece Theater". New York Observer.
  16. "Larysa Kondracki". IMDb. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  17. "Great Amherst Mystery on the big screen". www.saltwire.com. Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  18. Otterson, Joe (2018-07-26). "'Picnic at Hanging Rock' Showrunner Larysa Kondracki Sets First-Look Deal at Amazon". Variety. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  19. "Canadian Director Caught Up in Screen Australia Nationalism Storm". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2018-08-03.
  20. Gilbert, Sophie (29 May 2018). "The Enduring Mystery of 'Picnic at Hanging Rock'". The Atlantic. Atlantic Media.
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