Krzysztof Kieślowski applied to the Łódź Film School twice before being accepted on his third attempt, when he began his film education.
Early in his career he wanted to move toward theatre, but as he turned professionally to film he shifted to documentary cinema. He made documentary films for a time, then moved toward fiction cinema and gained international recognition in that field.
He later explained his transition from documentary to fiction cinema in these words:
“I made documentaries for ten years. I loved the genre, but in the end I realised the limits of recording reality. I felt like someone fleeing a sinking ship.”
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, especially with Dekalog and the Three Colors trilogy, he earned great respect in the international film world.
After completing Three Colors: Red in 1994, he announced that he was leaving cinema and ended his directing career.
He served as a jury member at the Cannes Film Festival and was regarded as one of the most important figures in European art cinema.
For his contributions to film culture, he was honoured in respected film circles associated with the British Film Institute (BFI).
Kieślowski spent his childhood in Poland constantly moving. Because of his father’s illness, his family had to live in different cities and in areas close to sanatoriums. This experience left a lasting effect on his view of the world.
In his youth, before turning to documentary cinema, he was interested in theatre, but he decided to continue his career in film.
Kieślowski kept his distance from the Western European and Hollywood-centred industry structure and remained mostly within the tradition of European art cinema.
Speaking about the themes of “coincidence, fate and invisible connections” often seen in his cinema, he told this anecdote about his childhood:
“I remember seeing an elephant in the street one day as a child. Later I was told that this was impossible. But I believe what I saw.”
(This account is generally regarded as a metaphorical experience.)
During the shooting of Dekalog, Kieślowski faced various production difficulties because of the political conditions in Poland.
In an interview about trains and stations, he used the following statement:
“I like travelling by train, but I don’t much like shooting in train stations. Even so, whenever my screenwriting partner Piesiewicz and I construct a story, trains and stations somehow find their way into the scene.”
He stated that in his spare time he liked to work with mechanical devices and to take watches apart and reassemble them.
He also regarded woodworking as a hobby, but joked that he did not consider himself talented at it.