Director Krzysztof Kieslowski, although best known for his Three Colors trilogy (Blue, White, and Red) and the French/Polish production Double Life of Véronique, produced the vast majority of his work in Communist-era Poland.

As a student at Lódz Film School, he was greatly influenced by Ken Loach's Kes, as well as works by fellow alumni Andrzej Wajda and Krzysztof Zanussi.

Our series will provide a concise overview of Kieslowski's career, starting with his early neorealist features Camera Buff (1979) and Blind Chance (1981), which still bear the mark of his beginnings as a documentary filmmaker.  

Next are feature-length films expanded from his Decalogue series (originally shot for Polish television): A Short Film About Love and A Short Film About Killing, both made in 1988.  We are pleased to announce that renowned film scholar and Columbia University Professor Annette Insdorf will be joining us to introduce A Short Film About Love on Wednesday, May 2.

Finally, the series concludes with two of the director's final works before his untimely death at the age of 54, the formalist meditations on chance and fate: Double Life of Véronique (1991) and Blue (1993), starring Irène Jacob and Juliette Binoche, respectively.

Join us on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. on the first floor of Mid-Manhattan Library starting on April 11, 2012 for Films of Krzysztof Kieslowski. All screenings are FREE and seating is first-come, first-served. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Download official flier: B&W | Color

April 11 at 7 p.m.
CAMERA BUFF (1979, 103 min)
"...while the movie is about the love of a craft, this isn't a nostalgia-drenched account of that appreciation. Kieslowski developed Camera Buff's deceptively complex script so that it addressed weightier themes: obsession, censorship, and the battle between artistic integrity and personal sacrifice."
— James Berardinelli, ReelViews

April 18 at 7 p.m.
BLIND CHANCE (1981, 114 min)
"In Blind Chance we are presented with three versions, three possible outcomes, of one man's life... It's a tragic work of art — one of those films that tell us about the human condition — but never fear, it's not too oblique. It is accessible and watchable."
— Jeff Vorndam, aboutfilm.com

April 25 at 7 p.m.
A SHORT FILM ABOUT KILLING (1988, 81 min)
"[Kieslowski] delivers an anguished, two-act take on the inseparable and diseased connection between isolated violent acts and those sanctioned by governing systems, between the murderers that hide behind institutional anonymity and those who cannot hide their face from the police."
— Eric Henderson, Slant Magazine

May 2 at 7 p.m.
A SHORT FILM ABOUT LOVE (1988, 83 min)
Introduction by Columbia University Professor Annette Insdorf (author of Double Lives, Second Chances: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski)

"An expanded, feature-length re-working of Decalogue VI: Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery from Krzysztof Kieslowski's magnum opus television project, Decalogue, A Short Film About Love is a sublime and provocative exploration on the nature of desire, connection, and intimacy."
— Acquarello, Strictly Film School

May 9 at 7 p.m.
DOUBLE LIFE OF VERONIQUE (1991, 96 min)
"The Double Life of Veronique [constructs] a fluttering opera of duality and déjà vu seemingly suspended in motion. Through the parallel characters of Polish singer Weronika and French music teacher Veronique (both played by Irène Jacob)...Kieślowski envisions a modern world where the combination of touch and fate can reconcile life's incomprehensible mysteries."
— Glenn Heath Jr., Slant Magazine

May 16 at 7 p.m.
THREE COLORS: BLUE (1993, 98 min)
"In Krzysztof Kieslowski's Blue, the rehabilitation of a human spirit after painful trag- edy is given stunning, aesthetic dimension. A story about a woman (Juliette Binoche) who loses her family in a car crash, this Polish-French production is also a spectral array of blues — cold, heart-chilling and beautiful."
— Desson Howe, Washington Post

Coming Next: Film Noir in June/July/August 2012 as part of Mystery Summer.

Please contact Thomas Knowlton at thomasknowlton@nypl.org if you have any questions.