Valley Performing Arts Center

Jan 24

The Scar
(Blizna)
(1976, 112 mins.)

Kieślowski’s feature film debut tells the story of the shifting fortunes of a massive factory project in rural postwar Poland. The Scar is filled with the vivid characters, lucid imagery and the incisive but even-handed social criticism that would define his early films.

Jan 31

Kieślowski Documentaries and Short Subjects
(120 mins.)

A program of short films and documentaries made by Kieślowski between 1969 and 1980. More overtly political than his later feature films, these earlier efforts nonetheless reveal Kieślowski’s talent for capturing the broad complexities of the human condition.

Feb 7

Camera Buff
(Amator)
(1979, 117 mins.)

Camera Buff is a tragi-comic exploration of the craft of filmmaking. Insightful and self-reflexive, this fictional film about a documentary filmmaker is commonly referred to as a watershed in Kieślowski’s transition from documentary to fiction filmmaking.

Feb 14

Blind Chance
(Przypadek)
(1981, 122 mins.)

Kieślowski’s Blind Chance presents three separate storylines, told in succession, about a man running after a train and the different futures that could result from this seemingly ordinary incident. A transcendental meditation on fate, coincidence and choice.

Feb 21

No End
(Bez końca)
(1984, 122 mins.)

In No End, Kieślowski tells the story of a woman coping with the death of her husband during Poland’s turmoil of the 1980s. Here Kieślowski reveals his career-long interest in the connections between the individual psyche and the politics of collective institutions.

Feb 28

Decalogue I & II
(Dekalog I & II)
(1988, 120 mins.)

Kieślowski’s Decalogue explores the timeless moral issues of human existence through ten contemporary tales inspired by the Ten Commandments. The series begins with the first two touching and thought-provoking episodes, Decalogue I and Decalogue II.

Mar 7

 Decalogue III & IV
(Dekalog III & IV)
(1988, 120 mins.)

The Decalogue continues with the next two episodes, Decalogue III, which tells the story of a chance encounter between a married man and his former lover, and Decalogue IV, where Kieślowski takes on the commandment to honor one’s mother and father.

Mar 14

Decalogue V & VI
(Dekalog V & VI)
(1988, 120 mins.)

Decalogue V & VI continue Kieślowski’s Decalogue with two episodes that were later expanded into longer feature films. Decalogue V deals with the commandment against killing and Decalogue VI addresses the commandment against adultery.

Mar 21

Decalogue VII & VIII
(Dekalog VII & VIII)
(1988, 120 mins.)

The Decalogue continues with episodes seven and eight of the series. Decalogue VII concerns a woman abducting her own child, who has been raised by her parents as her sister, and Decalogue VIII is about the complicated issue of bearing false witness.

Mar 28

Decalogue IX & X
(Dekalog IX & X)
(1988, 120 mins.)

The Decalogue series concludes with Kieślowski taking on the coveting of another’s wife in Decalogue IX, and the coveting of goods in Decalogue X. A powerful pair of films to close-out the series in a playful way and with a darkly comedic flourish.

Apr 4

A Short Film About Killing
(Krótki film o zabijaniu)
(1988, 84 mins.)

Kieślowski expanded the fifth episode of his Decalogue for this disturbing and violent feature film about a young drifter who murders a taxi driver. A highly provocative statement that became a critically acclaimed and award winning feature for the director.

Apr 18

 A Short Film About Love
(Krótki film o miłości)
(1988, 86 mins.)

A Short Film About Love began as the sixth episode of Kieślowski’s Decalogue. In this expanded stand-alone feature film, a young shy postal worker has his illusions about pure ideal love shattered by the woman who is the object of his obsessive fascination.

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Apr 25

The Double Life of Veronique
(La Double vie de Véronique/Podwójne życie Weroniki)
(1991, 98 mins.)

May 2

Three Colors: Blue
(Trois couleurs: Bleu/Trzy kolory: Niebieski)
(1993, 94 mins.)

In the devastating first film of Kieślowski’s Three Colors trilogy, a woman reels from the tragic death of her husband and young daughter. More than just a blistering study of sorrow and grief, Blue is also a tale of liberation and a transcendent sensory experience.

May 9

Three Colors: White
(Trois couleurs: Blanc/Trzy kolory: Biały )
(1994, 87 mins.)

The most playful and also the grittiest of Kieślowski’s Three Colors films, White manages to be both a ticklish dark comedy about the economic inequalities of Eastern and Western Europe and a sublime reverie about twisted and irrepressible love.

Three Colors: Red
(Trois couleurs: Rouge/Trzy kolory: Czerwony )

Kieślowski closes his Three Colors trilogy in grand fashion, with an incandescent meditation on fate and chance. Red is an intimate look at forged connections and a splendid final statement from a remarkable filmmaker at the height of his powers.