Gennadi Poloka (1930-2014) was a Soviet director and actor. From a diverse Slavic background, Poloka was steadfast in his deep affection for his home country. At just 10 years old, he saw Julien Duvivier’s The Great Waltz (1938) and knew then that his calling was cinema. Moving from assistant director to the likes of Baris Barnet and Mikhail Romm, he became a leader of the Soviet box office after he released his first feature, The Republic of ShKID (1966).