Daughter of internationally acclaimed artist and architect Jan Sawka, Hanna Maria Sawka was born in communist Poland in 1975. Before she was one year old, her family was exiled due to her father’s political opposition activities. Her family was given refuge in the United States, so Hanna grew up in New York. Hanna completed her English/Theater B.A. cum laude with high honors in theater at Smith College in Northampton, MA. In 1997, Hanna won a Kosciuszko Foundation grant to study directing at the Polish National Film, TV and Theatre School, alma mater of directors Krzysztof Kieslowski, lifetime-achievement Oscar© recipient Andrzej Wajda, Roman Polanski (Best Director Oscar© for “The Pianist”), among others. From 1999 - 2002, while still a graduate student, Hanna directed bimonthly crime re-enactments for a nationally broadcast prime-time crime show (Polish National Television). Her episodes enjoyed high viewer ratings and one of them lead to the apprehension and incarceration of a rapist and murderer. She completed a Masters of Fine Arts in Film, TV and Theatre Directing in January 2004.

Since 1999, she has written, produced and directed 5 short films, both fiction and documentary, which together have garnered 16 festival nominations around the world and awards that include a recent “Best of the Festival” award for That Sleepless Night at Mediawave in Gyor, Hungary and an “Audience Choice” first prize for Night Conversations at the Red Wasp Film Festival in Bryant, Texas. The 10-minute That Sleepless Night was shot on 35mm and is an erotic “whodunit” set in lavish 19th century era production design. My Name is Peter is a 15-minute documentary that captures the innocence of childhood through a look at one day in the life of a little boy growing up on a farm. 15-minute Undercurrent, shot on 35mm, returns to complex themes with the portrait of a woman struggling to come to terms with a death. 30-minute Night Conversations is a documentary about two night-shift taxi-drivers, whose brief encounters with passengers contrast with or deepen the theme of their struggle to make ends meet as single parents. In 2000, Hanna participated in a Kodak-sponsored storyboard contest for 30-second spots. Her storyboard won her a production budget for the realization of a 30-second spot for the Mercedes Class-A, which featured some tongue-in-cheek feminist themes.

She has directed two full-length plays. An adaptation of Japanese classic Love Suicide at Amijima by Chikamatsu Monzaemon was staged at the Hallie Flanagan Studio Theater in Northampton, MA in 1996. In 2002, Hanna directed a politically controversial play, The Carcass by Richard Corozine, at the STU Theater in Poland’s theater capital of Krakow. In 2004, Lake Isle Press published At Hanka’s Table, a culinary autobiography recounting the Sawka family’s survival and success in the art world, which Hanna co-authored with her mother, Hanka Sawka. The book has garnered much praise from critics, including the New York Times. Hanna has written several full-length screenplays, which include a romantic black comedy for which she is currently seeking financing. She is also in pre-production of The Voyage, a multi-media spectacle in collaboration with her father, artist Jan Sawka, to be produced at Tokyo’s Toho Studios of Akira Kurosawa fame.