Hi! I am Karolina, but everyone calls me Karol.
I was born in 1996 to a single mum in the Czech Republic.
Although I was always interested in the world of stories, it never occurred to me that it could be my profession one day. Being an artist is hard, you hear everyone say.
So instead, I decided to be a professional athlete. That’s not possible, you hear everyone say as well but 'Karol, you have to do what fulfils you,' my mum always told me. She is an astrologer; she knows what she’s talking about.
I became a professional handball player at the age of 17 after playing handball since I was 6 years old. It took two years to wrap up my sports career, realising that it is not any more what fulfils me.
I moved to Scotland to study English Literature, Film & Visual Culture, and that is where my storytelling journey began. I thought I would never find anything that I would love so much as handball, and yet there I was. There was nothing else that I would love to do more than being a filmmaker. A director. A storyteller.
So, I am going to be an artist after all. Can’t be harder than being a pro athlete, right?
I started editing and writing scripts. I directed my first short film "2035" in Aberdeen and then moved to London to do an MA in Film Production at the University of Greenwich.
There, I wrote and directed "The Great Conjunction", a short film about an ageing astronomer who watches the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter but is interrupted by his granddaughter. The film is about loneliness, abuse, escapism and went on winning several small film festivals around Europe for the best script, best short film and best student direction.
I started editing full time after completing my studies, both narrative and corporate content as well as writing scripts and developing new projects. I have worked with brands like Quickbooks, This Works, Minstead Trust, and Dewalt and edited several short films.
In 2023, I edited a BFI-funded short film "Asa" made by Octarine Films and a feature documentary titled "The Red List." I am about to launch a Czech bed-time stories podcast ‘Karolky’ for children in April.