Krzysztof Kieślowski

Directing

Krzysztof Kieślowski

Born — Died

1941-06-27 — 1996-03-13

Place of birth

Warsaw, General Government, German Reich [now Poland]

Known for

Directing

Credits

64 titles

Krzysztof Kieślowski (June 27, 1941 – March 13, 1996) was an influential Polish film director and screenwriter known internationally for his television series "The Decalogue" (1989), and his feature films "The Double Life of Véronique" (1991), and the "Three Colours" trilogy (1993–1994). Kieślowski received numerous awards during his career, including the Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize (1988), FIPRESCI Prize (1988, 1991), and Prize of the Ecumenical Jury (1991); the Venice Film Festival FIPRESCI Prize (1989), Golden Lion (1993), and OCIC Award (1993); and the Berlin International Film Festival Silver Bear (1994). In 1995 he received Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Writi…

Known for

Three Colors: White poster
7.4

Polish immigrant Karol Karol finds himself out of a marriage, a job and a country when his French wife, Dominique, divorces him after six months due to his impotence. Forced to leave France after losing the business they jointly owned, Karol enlists fellow Polish expatriate Mikołaj to smuggle him back to their homeland.

Three Colors: White

1994

Three Colors: Blue poster
7.6

The wife of a famous composer survives a car accident that kills her husband and daughter. Now alone, she shakes off her old identity and explores her newfound freedom but finds that she is unbreakably bound to other humans, including her husband’s mistress, whose existence she never suspected.

Three Colors: Blue

1993

Three Colors: Red poster
7.9

Part-time model Valentine unexpectedly befriends a retired judge after she runs over his dog. At first, the grumpy man shows no concern about the dog, and Valentine decides to keep it. But the two form a bond when she returns to his house and catches him listening to his neighbors’ phone calls.

Three Colors: Red

1994

The Double Life of Véronique poster
7.5

Véronique is a beautiful young French woman who aspires to be a renowned singer; Weronika lives in Poland, has a similar career goal and looks identical to Véronique, though the two are not related. The film follows both women as they contend with the ups and downs of their individual lives, with Véronique embarking on an unusual romance with Alexandre Fabbri, a puppeteer who may be able to help her with her existential issues.

The Double Life of Véronique

1991

Heaven poster
6.5

A woman takes the law into her own hands after police ignore her pleas to arrest the man responsible for her husband's death, and finds herself not only under arrest for murder but falling in love with an officer.

Heaven

2002

A Short Film About Love poster
7.8

19-year-old Tomek whiles away his lonely life by spying on his opposite neighbour Magda through binoculars. She's an artist in her mid-thirties, and appears to have everything - not least a constant stream of men at her beck and call. But when the two finally meet, they discover that they have a lot more in common than appeared at first sight...

A Short Film About Love

1988

Film credits

2000s · 4 titles

1990s · 11 titles

Pictures of Europe poster
NR

What makes European cinema so special? Find out in Paul Joyce’s feature-length documentary, Pictures of Europe, which examines the differences between American independent and Hollywood movies and films from European directors. Featuring luminary iconoclasts from European cinema such as Agnes Varda, Bernardo Bertolucci and Pedro Almodovar, as well as American counterpoints from Paul Schrader, and those who have crossed back and forth, such as Paul Verhoeven

Pictures of Europe

1990

Kieslowski: Dialogue poster
7.0

Documentary featuring a candid interview with Kieślowski and rare behind-the-scenes footage from the set of The Double Life of Véronique

Kieslowski: Dialogue

1991

Kieślowski Cannes 94 poster
NR

A documentary about the showing of Krzysztof Kieślowski's film RED at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival, including interviews with the director and the cast of the film.

Kieślowski Cannes 94

1994

Krzysztof Kieślowski: A Masterclass for Young Directors poster
6.8

Presents highlights of a workshop for young directors conducted by the Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski (1941-1996) in Amsterdam during the summer of 1994, inclusive of interviews with Kieślowski himself. The theme of the workshop was the direction of actors. For a fortnight, various groups worked every day on a scene from Ingmar Bergman's film, 'Scenes from a Marriage.'

Krzysztof Kieślowski: A Masterclass for Young Directors

1995

No artwork available
NR

The film reveals the mechanisms of the communist institution of censorship. Famous filmmakers - Kazimierz Kutz, Andrzej Wajda, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Filip Bajon and Marcel Lozinski - talk about their contacts and experiences with censors, how their films were censored, what parts were considered contrary to the ideology of the socialist state. These interferences were often of an absurd nature. At the same time, the filmmakers mention how much of the intended content they managed to smuggle out. The film is also an attempt to analyze and summarize the role of censorship in a totalitarian state and its impact on culture and art.

Tren na śmierć cenzora

1992

Krzysztof Kieslowski: I'm So-So... poster
7.8

Director and writer Krzysztof Kieslowski shares his views on life, people, politics, and comments a little about some of his films in a very casual conversation.

Krzysztof Kieslowski: I'm So-So...

1995

No artwork available
NR

A biographical story of Krzysztof Kieślowski. The production is composed of well-selected fragments of his documentaries and feature films. The aim of that is to create a universal human story: birth, education, maturation, love, work, illness, and death.

Short Film About Krzysztof Kieslowski

1996

No artwork available
NR

Film director Krzysztof Kieślowski examines in detail one scene from each of the films in his Three Colors Trilogy.

Krzysztof Kieślowski: A Lesson in Cinema

1994

Kieslowski: The Cinema Lesson poster
NR

In Warsaw, Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski returns to the editing room of the documentary film production company where he made his first films in the late 1960s.

Kieslowski: The Cinema Lesson

1994

A Short Film About Decalogue: An Interview with Krzysztof Kieslowski poster
6.2

This interview, made in January 1995, is an attempt to examine the universal messages offered by 'Decalogue', as well as it's idiosyncrasies

A Short Film About Decalogue: An Interview with Krzysztof Kieslowski

1995

The Ten Commandments of Krzysztof Kieslowski poster
NR

Documentary on Krzysztof Kieslowski's Dekalog from the BBC Arena series.

The Ten Commandments of Krzysztof Kieslowski

1990

Behind the camera

Three Colors: White poster
7.4

Polish immigrant Karol Karol finds himself out of a marriage, a job and a country when his French wife, Dominique, divorces him after six months due to his impotence. Forced to leave France after losing the business they jointly owned, Karol enlists fellow Polish expatriate Mikołaj to smuggle him back to their homeland.

Three Colors: White

1994

Three Colors: White poster
7.4

Polish immigrant Karol Karol finds himself out of a marriage, a job and a country when his French wife, Dominique, divorces him after six months due to his impotence. Forced to leave France after losing the business they jointly owned, Karol enlists fellow Polish expatriate Mikołaj to smuggle him back to their homeland.

Three Colors: White

1994

Three Colors: Blue poster
7.6

The wife of a famous composer survives a car accident that kills her husband and daughter. Now alone, she shakes off her old identity and explores her newfound freedom but finds that she is unbreakably bound to other humans, including her husband’s mistress, whose existence she never suspected.

Three Colors: Blue

1993

Three Colors: Blue poster
7.6

The wife of a famous composer survives a car accident that kills her husband and daughter. Now alone, she shakes off her old identity and explores her newfound freedom but finds that she is unbreakably bound to other humans, including her husband’s mistress, whose existence she never suspected.

Three Colors: Blue

1993

Three Colors: Red poster
7.9

Part-time model Valentine unexpectedly befriends a retired judge after she runs over his dog. At first, the grumpy man shows no concern about the dog, and Valentine decides to keep it. But the two form a bond when she returns to his house and catches him listening to his neighbors’ phone calls.

Three Colors: Red

1994

Three Colors: Red poster
7.9

Part-time model Valentine unexpectedly befriends a retired judge after she runs over his dog. At first, the grumpy man shows no concern about the dog, and Valentine decides to keep it. But the two form a bond when she returns to his house and catches him listening to his neighbors’ phone calls.

Three Colors: Red

1994

The Double Life of Véronique poster
7.5

Véronique is a beautiful young French woman who aspires to be a renowned singer; Weronika lives in Poland, has a similar career goal and looks identical to Véronique, though the two are not related. The film follows both women as they contend with the ups and downs of their individual lives, with Véronique embarking on an unusual romance with Alexandre Fabbri, a puppeteer who may be able to help her with her existential issues.

The Double Life of Véronique

1991

The Double Life of Véronique poster
7.5

Véronique is a beautiful young French woman who aspires to be a renowned singer; Weronika lives in Poland, has a similar career goal and looks identical to Véronique, though the two are not related. The film follows both women as they contend with the ups and downs of their individual lives, with Véronique embarking on an unusual romance with Alexandre Fabbri, a puppeteer who may be able to help her with her existential issues.

The Double Life of Véronique

1991

Heaven poster
6.5

A woman takes the law into her own hands after police ignore her pleas to arrest the man responsible for her husband's death, and finds herself not only under arrest for murder but falling in love with an officer.

Heaven

2002

A Short Film About Love poster
7.8

19-year-old Tomek whiles away his lonely life by spying on his opposite neighbour Magda through binoculars. She's an artist in her mid-thirties, and appears to have everything - not least a constant stream of men at her beck and call. But when the two finally meet, they discover that they have a lot more in common than appeared at first sight...

A Short Film About Love

1988

A Short Film About Love poster
7.8

19-year-old Tomek whiles away his lonely life by spying on his opposite neighbour Magda through binoculars. She's an artist in her mid-thirties, and appears to have everything - not least a constant stream of men at her beck and call. But when the two finally meet, they discover that they have a lot more in common than appeared at first sight...

A Short Film About Love

1988

A Short Film About Killing poster
7.6

Jacek climbs into the taxi driven by Waldemar, tells him to drive to a remote location, then brutally strangles him, seemingly without motive.

A Short Film About Killing

1988

A Short Film About Killing poster
7.6

Jacek climbs into the taxi driven by Waldemar, tells him to drive to a remote location, then brutally strangles him, seemingly without motive.

A Short Film About Killing

1988

The Big Animal poster
7.1

When the circus leaves town, Zygmunt and Marysia unwittingly adopt a camel into their home. The couple quickly forms a close bond with the nameless camel, but as the bond grows stronger, their neighbors slowly begin to ostracize them.

The Big Animal

2000

Decalogue I poster
8.1

Krzysztof, a semantics professor and computer hobbyist, is raising his young son, Paweł, to look to science for answers, while Irena, Paweł’s aunt, lives a life rooted in faith. Over the course of one day, both adults are forced to question their belief systems.

Decalogue I

1989

Decalogue I poster
8.1

Krzysztof, a semantics professor and computer hobbyist, is raising his young son, Paweł, to look to science for answers, while Irena, Paweł’s aunt, lives a life rooted in faith. Over the course of one day, both adults are forced to question their belief systems.

Decalogue I

1989

Decalogue V poster
8.0

Jacek, an angry drifter, murders a taxi driver, brutally and without motive. His case is assigned to Piotr, an idealistic young lawyer who is morally opposed to the death penalty, and their interactions take on an emotional honesty that throws into stark relief for Piotr the injustice of killing of any kind.

Decalogue V

1989

Decalogue V poster
8.0

Jacek, an angry drifter, murders a taxi driver, brutally and without motive. His case is assigned to Piotr, an idealistic young lawyer who is morally opposed to the death penalty, and their interactions take on an emotional honesty that throws into stark relief for Piotr the injustice of killing of any kind.

Decalogue V

1989

Decalogue III poster
7.1

It’s Christmas Eve, and Ewa has plotted to pass the hours until morning with her former lover Janusz, a family man, by making him believe her husband has gone missing. During this night of recklessness and lies, the pair grapple with choices made when their affair was discovered three years ago, and with the value of their present lives.

Decalogue III

1989

Decalogue III poster
7.1

It’s Christmas Eve, and Ewa has plotted to pass the hours until morning with her former lover Janusz, a family man, by making him believe her husband has gone missing. During this night of recklessness and lies, the pair grapple with choices made when their affair was discovered three years ago, and with the value of their present lives.

Decalogue III

1989

Curriculum Vitae poster
7.0

A communist party control committee interrogates a worker and party activist who is to be excluded from the party.

Curriculum Vitae

1975

Curriculum Vitae poster
7.0

A communist party control committee interrogates a worker and party activist who is to be excluded from the party.

Curriculum Vitae

1975

Personnel poster
6.4

Romek, an idealistc 19-year-old boy, takes a job as a tailor in the costume department of a Warsaw theater company where his new colleague, Sowa, is pressured to make a costume for an overbearing soloist.

Personnel

1976

Personnel poster
6.4

Romek, an idealistc 19-year-old boy, takes a job as a tailor in the costume department of a Warsaw theater company where his new colleague, Sowa, is pressured to make a costume for an overbearing soloist.

Personnel

1976

No End poster
7.0

1982, Poland. A translator loses her husband and becomes a victim of her own sorrow. She looks to sex, to her son, to law, and to hypnotism when she has nothing else in this time of martial law when Solidarity was banned.

No End

1985

No End poster
7.0

1982, Poland. A translator loses her husband and becomes a victim of her own sorrow. She looks to sex, to her son, to law, and to hypnotism when she has nothing else in this time of martial law when Solidarity was banned.

No End

1985

Camera Buff poster
7.5

Filip buys an 8mm movie camera when his first child is born. Because it's the first camera in town, he's named official photographer by the local Party boss. His horizons widen when he is sent to regional film festivals with his first works but his focus on movie making also leads to domestic strife and philosophical dilemmas.

Camera Buff

1979

Camera Buff poster
7.5

Filip buys an 8mm movie camera when his first child is born. Because it's the first camera in town, he's named official photographer by the local Party boss. His horizons widen when he is sent to regional film festivals with his first works but his focus on movie making also leads to domestic strife and philosophical dilemmas.

Camera Buff

1979

Decalogue X poster
7.9

Jerzy and Artur’s father dies, leaving behind a valuable stamp collection, which, they discover, is coveted by dealers of varying degrees of shadiness. The more involved the brothers get in their father’s world, the more dire and comical their situation becomes.

Decalogue X

1989

Decalogue X poster
7.9

Jerzy and Artur’s father dies, leaving behind a valuable stamp collection, which, they discover, is coveted by dealers of varying degrees of shadiness. The more involved the brothers get in their father’s world, the more dire and comical their situation becomes.

Decalogue X

1989

Blind Chance poster
7.5

Witek runs after a train. Three variations follow on how such a seemingly banal incident could influence the rest of Witek's life.

Blind Chance

1987

Blind Chance poster
7.5

Witek runs after a train. Three variations follow on how such a seemingly banal incident could influence the rest of Witek's life.

Blind Chance

1987

Decalogue IV poster
7.8

A father and daughter, Michał and Anka, have a unique intimacy, which the college-aged Anka is beginning to feel conflicted about. When she finds an unopened letter from her deceased mother, it seems to justify her attraction to Michał, who may not in fact be her father.

Decalogue IV

1989

Decalogue IV poster
7.8

A father and daughter, Michał and Anka, have a unique intimacy, which the college-aged Anka is beginning to feel conflicted about. When she finds an unopened letter from her deceased mother, it seems to justify her attraction to Michał, who may not in fact be her father.

Decalogue IV

1989

The Bricklayer poster
5.7

Joseph Malesa is a former party activist, labor leader, and mason. The documentary describes his career and life through ups and downs.

The Bricklayer

1973

The Bricklayer poster
5.7

Joseph Malesa is a former party activist, labor leader, and mason. The documentary describes his career and life through ups and downs.

The Bricklayer

1973

The Office poster
7.0

The insane government bureaucracy at a state pension window.

The Office

1966

I Was a Soldier poster
7.1

A group of veterans recount a horrifying experience when trapped in a minefield, resulting in each losing their sight.

I Was a Soldier

1971

X-Ray poster
5.9

Patients with serious lung diseases, who are now in a sanatorium, tell us about their thoughts and feelings.

X-Ray

1974

Refrain poster
6.5

Documentary about everyday life in the funeral business, dealing with a funeral home and targets bureaucracy, corruption and dispassionate attitudes toward sorrowful fellow citizens.

Refrain

1972