| A doctor is asked to predict the fate of patient with sweeping consequences. A student discovers an unopened letter from her long dead mother. A murderous drifter searches the street for a random victim. These are just some of the stories explored in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Dekalog, a series of 10 short films originally made for Polish TV, which will screen at the Melbourne Cinémathèque beginning Wednesday 2 October.
Born on 27 June 1941 in Warsaw, Kieślowski trained at the famed Łódź Film School and in his early career focused on documentaries portraying everyday life in Poland and was later associated with the ‘cinema of moral anxiety’ movement. He is best known internationally for his French-funded films The Double Life of Véronique (1990) and The Three Colors Trilogy (1993-94).
Shot on 35mm film, Dekalog first screened on Polish TV in 1989-90 and is now considered one of the most important achievements in postwar cinema. The epic 10-part series follows the interconnected lives of people residing in a Warsaw apartment block, presenting a portrait of the hardships in Polish society in the dying days of communism. Whether funny or heartbreaking, each episode carries a breadth of human emotions.
Kieślowski and co-writer Krzysztof Piesiewicz take inspiration from the thematic and structure of the Ten Commandments with each episode loosely representing a commandment. Greed, adultery and even murder are some of the themes explored in a morally ambiguous way. As Kieślowski said “For 6,000 years these rules have been unquestionably right, and yet we break them every day.”
The cast of Dekalog form a venerable who’s who of Polish cinema including Daniel Olbrychski, Jerzy Stuhr, Krystyna Janda, Grażyna Szapołowska, Henryk Baranowski, Wojciech Klata, Aleksander Bardini, and Zbigniew Zamachowski.
Although Kieślowski originally intended each episode to be shot by different director, he decided to direct all the episodes himself in an ambitious project. The dazzling result is a philosophical monument to the complexities of human existence, meticulously crafted with great intimacy and intensity.
This is a rare opportunity to experience full series on 35mm with the Melbourne Cinémathèque at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image on 2, 9 and 16 October. It will also screen at the National Film and Sound Archive in Canberra beginning 12 October.
Melbourne
ACMI Cinema, Federation Square
Wednesday 2 October
7.00pm Dekalog I and II
9.00pm Dekalog III and IV
Wednesday 9 October
7.00pm Dekalog V
8.10pm Dekalog VI
9.20pm Dekalog VII
Wednesday 16 October
7.00pm Dekalog VIII
8.10pm Dekalog IX
9.20pm Dekalog X
Tickets available from the ACMI Box Office at Federation Square or www.acmi.net.au
Canberra
Arc Cinema, NFSA
Saturday 12 October
4.30pm Dekalog I and II
7.30pm Dekalog III and IV
Saturday 26 October
7.30pm Dekalog V and VI
Sunday 17 November
2.00pm Dekalog VII and VIII
Saturday 23 November
7.00pm Dekalog IX and X
More information about the screening program available from Melbourne Cinémathèque or the National Film and Sound Archive.
Beata Lukasiak
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