Polish Greats series – Dermot Bolger on K. Kieslowski
The Ireland – Poland Cultural Foundation and the Polish Embassy In Dublin invites you to take part in a series of public meetings Polish Greats (Irish artists on Polish inspirations).
During the first meeting an outstanding Irish writer Dermot Bolger will give a talk about Poland’s best known film director Krzysztof Kieslowski.
Krzysztof Kie?lowski is Poland’s best-known film director of the last twenty years. Born in Warsaw in 1941, he studied at the famous Film School in Lodz, launching his career with a series of short documentaries whose depiction of everyday Polish life brought him into conflict with the authorities. His feature work attracted further controversy with several of his films being banned or shelved for long periods of time. Amator / Camera Buff (1979) won the grand prize at the Moscow Film Festival and Przypadek / Blind Chance(1981) was banned domestically for six years. Kie?lowski’s features developed the themes first articulated in his shorts, focussing on the ethical choices faced by the individual rather than a community. Dekalog / The Decalogue (1988), a series of 10 short films set in a Warsaw apartment block, each nominally based on one of the Ten Commandments, is now one of the most critically acclaimed film cycles of all time. Krótki film o mi?o?ci / A Short Film About Love was the feature-length version one of these episodes. The success this series brought allowed Kie?lowski to complete his final four films as Polish-French co-productions. These final works, his most commercially successful, continued to focus on moral and metaphysical issues, with Podwójne ?ycie Weroniki / The Double Life of Veronica and his Three Colours trilogy (Trzy kolory) bringing international acclaim and the latter garnering a host of prestigious international awards, including the Golden Lion for Best Film and Silver Lion for Best Director at the Venice Film Festival, the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin Film Festival and three Academy Award nominations. The Trilogy is widely regarded as a major achievement in modern cinema and more than a decade after his death Kie?lowski still remains one of Europe’s most influential filmmakers.
Dermot Bolger was born in Dublin in 1959. One of Ireland’s most distinguished and versatile authors, he has published novels, plays and poetry. His nine novels include The Woman’s Daughter, The Journey Home, Father’s Music, The Valparaiso Voyage and The Family on Paradise Pier. His début play, The Lament for Arthur Cleary, received the Samuel Beckett Award and the first of his Ballymun Trilogy, From these Green Heights, won the Irish Times/ESB Award for Best New Irish Play of 2004. Author of many volumes of poetry, including the recent External Affairs and Night and Day, he has been Playwright in Association with the Abbey Theatre and Writing Fellow at Trinity College Dublin. He devised the best-selling collaborative novels Finbar’s Hotel and Ladies’ Night at Finbar’s Hotel and has edited many anthologies including The Picador Book of Contemporary Irish Fiction.
Kategoria: Culture