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A photo of Krzysztof Kie艣lowski by Alberto Terrile –

Top 10 Intriguing Facts about Krzysztof Kie艣lowski 

Krzysztof Kie艣lowski was born on 27 June 1941 and died on13 March 1996. He was a Polish film director and screenwriter. He is known internationally for Dekalog (1989), The Double Life of Veronique (1991), and the Three Colours trilogy (1993 鈥�1994).

Kie艣lowski received numerous awards during his career, including the Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize (1988), the FIPRESCI Prize (1988, 1991), the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury (1991), and many more others. In the article are the top ten intriguing facts about Krzysztof Kie艣lowski.

1. He received Academy Award nominations for Best Director

Kie艣lowski photo by autor nieznany –

The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for the artistic and technical merit of the American film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the film industry in the United States.

In 1995, he received Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. The Academy Award was worth it because, in 2002, Kie艣lowski was listed at number two on the British Film Institute’s Sight & Sound list of the top ten film directors of modern times.

2. Why did Krzysztof chose filmography?

Kie艣lowski was born in Warsaw, Poland, the son of Barbara and Roman Kie艣lowski, a tuberculosis patient. He grew up in several small towns, moving wherever his engineering father, could find treatment.

At sixteen, he attended a firefighters’ training school but dropped out after three months. Without any career goals, he then entered the College for Theatre Technicians in Warsaw in 1957 because it was run by a relative.

He wanted to become a theatre director but lacked the required bachelor’s degree for the theatre department, so he chose to study film as an intermediate step. All in all, he at least became a director in the film industry.

3. He avoided compulsory military service at all costs

Compulsory service existed in Poland until 2008 for men after they turned 19 years of age. Those who refused to serve could face fines or community service. The system was, however, abolished in 2009 by the then Civic Platform-led (PO) government with the approval of Law and Justice-backed (PiS) president Lech Kaczy艅ski.

To avoid compulsory military service during this time, he briefly became an art student, and also went on a drastic diet to make himself medically unfit for service. After several months of avoiding the draft, he was accepted to the school’s directing department in 1964, on his third attempt.

4. He was rejected twice when he applied to the 艁贸d藕 Film School

艁贸d藕 Film School photo by Zorro2212 –

After leaving college while working as a theatrical tailor, Kie艣lowski applied to the 艁贸d藕 Film School, founded in 1948, which has Roman Polanski and Andrzej Wajda among its alumni. Unfortunately, he was rejected twice.

Krzysztof Kie艣lowski must have been highheaded with high hopes. He chose to apply for the third time. To be exclusive, not so many people could choose to go back to places where they received rejection twice. He was accepted to the school’s directing department in 1964, on his third attempt. He attended 艁贸d藕 Film School until 1968.

5. He lost his interest in theatre and decided to make documentary films

Kie艣lowski’s early documentaries focused on the everyday lives of city dwellers, workers, and soldiers. Though he was not an overtly political filmmaker, he soon found that attempting to depict Polish life accurately brought him into conflict with the authorities.

Though Kie艣lowski believed the film’s message was anti-authoritarian, he was criticized by his colleagues for cooperating with the government in its production.

Kie艣lowski later said that he abandoned documentary filmmaking due to; the censorship of Workers ’71, which caused him to doubt whether truth could be told literally under an authoritarian regime, and an incident during the filming of Station (1981) in which some of his footage was nearly used as evidence in a criminal case.

6. Kie艣lowski quit documentary films and started making nondocumentary films

Kie艣lowski decided that fiction not only allowed more artistic freedom but could portray everyday life more truthfully. His first non-documentary feature, Personnel of 1975, was made for television and won him first prize at the Mannheim Film Festival.

Both Personnel and his next feature, The Scar, were works of social realism with large casts: Personnel was about technicians working on a stage production, based on his early college experience, and The Scar showed the upheaval of a small town by a poorly-planned industrial project.

7. He is the writer of Dekalog

Dekalog which is also known as Dekalog: The Ten Commandments and The Decalogue is a 1988 Polish drama television miniseries directed by Krzysztof Kie艣lowski and co-written by Kie艣lowski with Krzysztof Piesiewicz, with music by Zbigniew Preisner.

It consists of ten one-hour films, inspired by the decalogue of the Ten Commandments. Each short film explores characters facing one or several moral or ethical dilemmas as they live in an austere housing project in 1980s Poland. Dekalog is now one of the most critically acclaimed film cycles of all time.

8. Kie艣lowsk had great commercial success abroad between 1990 and 1994

Irene Jacob photo by Georges Biard –

Kie艣lowski’s last four films, his most commercially successful, were foreign co-productions, made mainly with money from France and in particular from Romanian-born producer Marin Karmitz.

Poland appeared in these films mostly through the eyes of European outsiders. The first of these was The Double Life of Veronique (1990), which starred Ir猫ne Jacob.

The commercial success of this film gave Kie艣lowski the funding for his ambitious final film (1993鈥�94), the trilogy Three Colours (Blue, White, Red), which explores the virtues symbolized by the French flag.

The three films garnered prestigious international awards, including the Golden Lion for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival and the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin Film Festival, in addition to three Academy Award nominations.

9. Kie艣lowsk married Maria Cautillo

I know some of us are wondering who is this Maria Cautillo. Before we know her, do you believe in lifelong love? How many of us would love to marry our lifelong loves?

Kie艣lowski married his lifelong love, Maria (Marysia) Cautillo, on 21 January 1967 during his final year in film school. They had a daughter, Marta who was born on 8 January 1972 and remained married until his death.

10. He died during an open-heart surgery

photo o the grave of Krzysztof Kie艣lowski by Jolanta Dyr –

Kie艣lowski announced his retirement from filmmaking after the premiere of his last film Red at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. On 13 March 1996, less than two years after he had retired, Kie艣lowski died at age 54 during open-heart surgery following a heart attack.

He was interred in Pow膮zki Cemetery in Warsaw. His grave has a sculpture of the thumb and forefingers of two hands forming an oblong space; the classic view as if through a film camera. The small sculpture is in black marble on a pedestal slightly over a metre tall. The slab with Kie艣lowski’s name and dates lies below.