Krzysztof Kieslowski
Krzysztof Kieslowski
Krzysztof Kieślowski; 27 June 1941 – 13 March 1996) was an influential Polish art-house film director and screenwriter known internationally for The Decalogue, The Double Life of Véronique, and The Three Colors Trilogy. Kieślowski received numerous awards during his career, including the Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize, FIPRESCI Prize, and Prize of the Ecumenical Jury; the Venice Film Festival FIPRESCI Prize, Golden Lion, and OCIC Award; and the Berlin International Film Festival Silver Bear. In 1995 he received Academy Award...
NationalityPolish
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth27 June 1941
CountryPoland
For 6,000 years, these rules have been unquestionably right. And yet we break them every day. People feel that something is wrong in life. There is some kind of atmosphere that makes people now turn to other values. They want to contemplate the basic questions of life, and that is probably the real reason for wanting to tell these stories.
I have no problem being with people of different nationalities.
Documentaries deal with people who live real, everyday lives. But if these people trusted us and told us the truth about their lives, it could be used against them - which sometimes happened.
I like chance meetings--life is full of them. Everyday, without realizing it, I pass people whom I should know. At this moment, in this cafe, we're sitting next to strangers. Everyone will get up, leave, and go on their own way. And they'll never meet again. And if they do, they won't realize that it's not for the first time.
In ten phrases, the ten commandments express the essential of life. And these three words--liberty, equality, and fraternity--do just as much. Millions of people have died for those ideals.
Different people in different parts of the world can be thinking the same thoughts at the same time. It's an obsession of mine: that different people in different places are thinking the same thing but for different reasons. I try to make films which connect people.
I like chance meetings - life is full of them. Every day, without realising it, I pass people whom I should know.
Do people really want liberty, equality, fraternity? Is it not some manner of speaking?
We're always looking at this love through the eyes of the person who is suffering because of this love.
I was happy when I got into film school. I'd simply satisfied my ambition to show them that I could get in - nothing else - although I do believe they shouldn't have accepted me. I was a complete idiot. I can't understand why they took me. Probably because I'd tried three times.
To tell you the truth, in my work, love is always in opposition to the elements. It creates dilemmas. It brings in suffering. We can't live with it, and we can't live without it. You'll rarely find a happy ending in my work.
Of course I'd like to get beyond the concrete. But it's really difficult. Very difficult.
We all steal, but if we're smart we steal from great directors. Then, we can call it influence.
The relationship between the films and the individual Commandments [is] a tentative one. The films should be influenced by the individual Commandments to the same degree that the Commandments influence our daily lives.