Krzystof Kieslowski _________ POLAND 1941-1996

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A towering figure of Central European cinema, Krzysztof Kieslowski was born in Warsaw, Poland on June 27, 1941. His formative years, spent under the specters of Hitler and Stalin, were nomadic; his father suffered from tuberculosis, and the family traveled from one sanatorium to another. To avoid military service he returned to school, and was eventually accepted into the famed Lodz Film College. At the time, documentaries were considered as artistically important and commercially viable as features. Among Kieslowski's documentaries of the early 1970s were Bylem Zolnierzem (I Was a Soldier), Fabryka (Factory), Przed Rajdem (Before the Rally) and Refren (Refrain) . The 1979 feature Amator (Camera Buff) launched Kieslowski to the forefront of the international cinema community. A period of societal freedom followed, and Kieslowski mounted a pair of 1981 features, Przypadek (Blind Chance) and Krotki Dzien Pracy (Short Working Day) both openly critical of communist control. In 1988 Kieslowski was given the green-light to begin filming The Decalogue. Two of the episodes (A Short Film About Love and A Short Film About Killing, respectively) were eventually extended into feature-length pictures and distributed internationally. In the face of continued financial troubles, however, Kieslowski relocated to France, where he completed 1991's masterful The Double Life of Veronique and the "Three Colors" trilogy. On March 13, 1996, he entered the hospital to undergo open-heart surgery. Tragically, Kieslowski suffered a heart attack while on the operating table and died. He was 54 years old. (Jason Ankeny)

MAJOR FILMS:

The Decalogue (1988)
The Double Life of Veronique (1991)
Blue (1993)
Red (1994)
White (1994)

ARTICLE:

Skutski, Karl J. "Krzysztof Kieslowski: Prophet of Secular Humanism in the New Europe." Presented at the “Rediscovering Polish Cinema Conference: History, Ideology, Politics." University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland, October 23, 2006.

KIESLOWSKI PODCAST

The lecture is in three parts (three separate MP3 files). Each part is a little over 30 minutes. (You may need to adjust the volume or equalizer on your computer or MP3 player.)

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