Tribute to Filmmaker Ellen Kuras – The KFDC Annual Award Celebration & Dinner

Join us for an unforgettable evening as we celebrate the artistry of a remarkable filmmaker Ellen Kuras at the headquarters of the world-renowned Vital Voices!

Prepare for a night brimming with:

• Film-related visual presentations
• Q&A with Ellen Kuras
• An awards ceremony honoring talent and creativity
• Short recital by Magdalena Wór, soprano & Martin Labazovitch, piano
• An elegant buffet dinner and refreshing beverages
• Networking opportunities with esteemed film professionals
• Master of ceremony: Polish-American actor and theater director charismatic Omar Sangare

Purchase tickets to the Award Celebration and donate to the Kosciuszko Foundation HERE

Don’t miss this opportunity to dive into the magic of cinema and connect with fellow film lovers. We look forward to seeing you there!

Ellen Kuras – the KF 2024 Pioneer Award Recipient

Academy Award-nominated and two-time Primetime Emmy-winning director/cinematographer Ellen Kuras is known for her work in feature films and documentaries, including Blow (2001), Analyze That (2002), and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004).

Her directorial debut, The Betrayal/Nerakhoon (2008), garnered an Academy Award nomination and a Primetime Emmy. Kuras has directed episodes for Ozark, The Umbrella Academy, and Catch-22.

She has received multiple accolades as a cinematographer, including the Student Academy Award for Samsara and the Excellence Awards at Sundance.

Kuras’s latest project, Lee, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2024, marking her directorial dramatic debut with Kate Winslet as war photographer Lee Miller.

The film explores the most significant decade of Lee Miller’s life. As a middle-aged woman, she refused to be remembered as a model and male artists’ muse. Lee Miller defied the expectations and rules of the time by traveling to Europe to report from the frontline during WWII. There, in part as a reaction to her own well-hidden trauma, she used her Rolleiflex camera to give a voice to the voiceless. What she captured on film in Dachau and throughout Europe was shocking and horrific. Her photographs of the war, its victims and its consequences remain among the most significant and historically important of the Second World War. She changed war photography forever, but Lee Miller paid an enormous personal price for what she witnessed and the stories she fought to tell.

Watch the latest interview with Ellen Kuras on making Lee…

Here is Lee’s official trailer:

Recital by Magdalena Wór & Martin Labazevitch.

Internationally acclaimed artists, mezzo-soprano Magdalena Wór and pianist Martin Labazevitch will perfom enchanted melodies from their upcoming album of music by Polish composer, conductor, pedagogue and the author of many movie and radio scores of the 20th century – Feliks Rybicki.

Omar Sangare – Master of Ceremony

Omar Sangare is one of most influential people in theatre. Dr. Sangare graduated from the National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw, Poland, where he studied with the Oscar-winning director, Andrzej Wajda. He was awarded a scholarship to The British American Drama Academy in Oxford, England. While there, he worked with Derek Jacobi, Alan Rickman, Michael Kahn, and Jeremy Irons. He holds many film, television, and radio credits.

The New York press acclaimed his lead part in the Arena Players Repertory Theater production of “Othello.” Barbara Delatiner wrote for “The New York Times”—“Omar Sangare was born to play Othello!” Dr. Sangare is a founder and artistic director of UNITED SOLO, the world’s largest solo theatre festival, a resident company at Theatre Row on 42nd Street in New York City. Omar Sangare was born to present his talents internationally through a thriving career as an actor, director, writer, producer, educator, and philanthropist.

Purchase tickets to the Award Celebration and donate to the Kosciuszko Foundation HERE or mail your check to the KFDC:

2025 O St. NW Washington DC, 20036 (for: the Kosciuszko Foundation; memo: Ellen Kuras Event)

Tickets are partially tax deductible. All our sponsors and donors will be acknowledged on the KF website. Thank you!

This event is part of our promotional efforts for the second edition of the KF Polish Film Festival in Washington DC in March 2025.

Photo of Ellen Kuras by Frank Chan via Wikipedia Commons

Cover photo: Kamila Zaworska