April 27, 2015
Student Director Balbinka Korzeniowska of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), is the recipient of this year’s John Frankenheimer Memorial Fellowship.
Named for the late DGA Vice President, the fellowship — established in 2003 by John’s widow Evans Frankenheimer — alternates annually between the Schools of Theater, Film & Television of both USC and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and is awarded to a graduate student majoring in film directing chosen by the directing faculty on the basis of artistic merit. The student receives $5000 from a fund established by the Frankenheimer family in 2002 and is administered by the Directors Guild Foundation.
“I am humbled and grateful to be this year’s recipient of the prestigious DGA Fellowship honoring a director who never stopped pushing the boundaries of storytelling,” said Korzeniowska. “The generous support from this award will allow me to continue to work on my voice as a storyteller in hopes to one day be able to create experiences for my audiences as gripping as those created by the work of John Frankenheimer.”
Born in Poland, Korzeniowska grew up in Chicago and received her B.A. in International Studies from DePaul University In 2004. Upon graduation she moved to New York where she completed a two year acting conservatory program at Stella Adler before relocating to Los Angeles. In 2010, she made her writing and directing debut with A Modern Day Matchmaking Affair. A MFA-Directing candidate at UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television, Korzeniowskas other works include the films A Change of Heart, My Name is Asia, Ink, and Awaken. She is currently in post-production on a documentary about the nomadic culture in Tibet.
Previous UCLA recipients are Mitchell Gettleman (2003), Zachary Godshall (2005), Walter Richardson (2007), Mira Lew (2009), Carlos Marques-Marcet (2011), and Vanita Shastry (2013). Previous USC recipients are Jerry Chan (2004), Michael Flores (2006), Valen Hernandez (2008), David Chen (2010), Monely Soltani (2012) and Wesley Rodriguez (2014).