SERENA DYKMAN Award-winning filmmaker President of Dyamant Pictures
Serena Dykman is a New York-based filmmaker, and a graduate the Ravensbruck, Malchow, and Auschwitz death camps. At Ausfrom NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her work, ranging from com- chwitz, she was the forced translator of the “Angel of Death”, Dr. edy to drama and documentary, has won her over 40 awards in the past three years. Her films THE DOORMAN, BED BUGS & COMPANY, and WELCOME have been selected in over 80 film festivals around the world, including at the Cannes Film Festival, and Oscar-qualifying film festivals. Born in Paris and raised between London, Brussels, and New York, her passion for travel has informed much of her work. Serena’s first feature film, NANA, is a transgenerational documentary about her grandmother, Maryla Michalowski-Dyamant, an Auschwitz survivor and activist for tolerance who survived
Mengele. The award-winning film was chosen by the European Commission and European Jewish Congress to be presented on Holocaust Memorial Day 2018, where Serena participated in a discussion on the future of Holocaust education with the First Vice President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans, and the world-renowned historian and author Simon Schama. NANA has been picked up for distribution by First Run Features and was released theatrically on April 13 at Cinema Village in New York. Serena is the founder and president of Dyamant Pictures, a New York-based production company.
“My grandmother’s legacy is my role model. Creating the film, NANA, based upon her life, made me more aware of the world I am living in today. It has also taught viewers of the film about the dangers of intolerance, and how to identify the signs when it starts. Yet, it also provides them with a message of hope since my grandmother remained optimistic, and transformed a horrible experience into bettering the lives of others.”
16 | 21 LEADERS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY