Nina Niovilla

Antonina Elżbieta Petrykiewicz (born 1874, died 1966), better known as Nina Niovilla, was a Polish film director, screenwriter, actress, translator and a teacher. She was the first Polish female film director and the only female director of the silent film era in Poland.

Life She was born in 1874 in Lwow as Antonina Elżbieta Petrykiewicz. During World War I she made a living as a singer and an actress in Warsaw and Berlin.

Niovilla was the first Polish woman to direct a film and – at the same time – the only female film director of the silent film era in Poland. She debuted in 1918 in Berlin, where she directed the movie Die Heiratsannonce, under a pseudonym Nina von Petry. The rights to screen the picture were sold abroad. Around this time, Niovilla also performed in the Qui Pro Quo cabaret. In 1926 the press informed that Niovilla was set to direct the film W szponach szakali based on a script by Kazimierz Krzyżanowski. None of her work has survived.

In 1926, Niovilla became one of the first international delegates of ZAIKS at the 35. ALAI Congress.

At the end of the 1920s she appeared in films and theatre plays directed by Danny Kaden (Niebezpieczny pocałunek), Edward Puchalski (Ludzie dzisiejsi), as well as Adam Augustynowicz and Ryszard Biske (9.25. Przygoda jednej nocy).

Apart from working on films and teaching, Niovilla also translated theatre plays from English and French to Polish, which were then staged at, among others, the Polish Theatre in Warsaw, the National Theatre, the Teatr Nowy in Poznań and the Teatr Rozmaitości in Lviv. She also contributed to film magazines such as Sztuka i Film and Rewia Filmowa.

Works

Filmography

1918: Die Heiratsannonce