Krzysztof Kieślowski was a famous Polish movie-director. He was born in Warsaw, on 27th July, 1941. From 1957 to 1962 he was a student of the Vocational School for Theatrical Technology. At the age of 22 he started to study directing in the Film School in Łódź. He graduated from this school in 1968. The film, which Kieślowski made as his graduation exam is titled "From the City of Łódź".
In 1969 he made his first film for TV. It was a documentary. Kieślowski worked in documentary studios for several years. He became a member of 'Tor film production unit' in 1974. he soon became its deputy director. (Nowadays Krzysztof Zanussi is the director of 'Tor'.)
Kieślowski spend his early years making different documentaries. "Workers '71" ("Robotnicy '71), illustrating the strikes in Szczecin, is the best known one. The documentary "First Love" ("Pierwsza Miłość") was the laureate of the Golden Dragon Prize at the International Festival of Short Films in Krakow in 1974.
He made his firs feature movie- "Personnel" in 1975 for Polish TV. This was a lucky year for him- he also won the 1st Prize at the Mannheim Festival in Germany. Kieślowski spent a few following years working for television. At that time he made documentaries as well as feature movies. Moreover, he directed several theatrical performances. He is an author and director of the play "Biograpgy", which was made in the Old Theatre in Krakow.
In 1976 Kieślowski completed his first film made for cinema. The title of that film is "The Scar" and it was awarded with Grand Prix at the Film Festival in Moscow. From that moment Kieślowki became a leading Polish director and the creator of new stream in Polish cinematography- "moral anxiety". "Blind Chance" ("Przypadek"), the next feature by Kieślowski, was made at the time of the rise of the Solidarity movement. But after the martial law was declared in December 1981, the film was banned. The audience could officially watch it from 1987 again.
"No End" ("Bez Końca") was the first film co-scripted together with Krzysztof Piesiewicz- the well known layer and politician. It appeared on the screens in 1984. Together with Piesiewicz, Kieślowski started to work on the next project. It was "The Decalogue". The script for "The Double Life of Veronica" was written by them in 1990. The film was made in France and Poland. The last project, which they completed together was the trilogy- "Three Colors". It was being realized from 1993 to 1995.
In several interviews after "Three Colors" were completed, Kieślowski said that he wanted to quit making films. Nevertheless his friend and co-writer revealed the secret that they were working on a new film project in 1996.
They had no chance to finish their work. Krzysztof Kieślowski died in 1997.
He was married and had one daughter.
Kieślowski was a member of the Polish Filmmaker Association. From 1979 to 1981 he was even a deputy chairman of the association. He was given a Fellowship of the British Film Institute in 1990. For many years he was a member of the European Film Academy.
In his career, Kieślowski was awarded with several prizes at numerous film festivals all around the world. The examples are: Cracow (1974, 1975, 1977, 1979), in Mannheim (1975), Gdansk (1975, 1976, 1979, 1988), Moscow (1979), Cannes (1988, 1991), Venice (1989, 1993), Berlin (1980, 1994), San Sebastian (1988), Chicago (1980), Lyon (1979), and Sao
Paulo (1988).
Krzysztof Kieślowski was a lecturer on script writing and directing at the University of Katowice (1979-1982), and also in West Berlin (1984), Helsinki (1988) and in Switzerland (1985, 1988, 1992).
