1996年3月13日，震驚全球影迷的一天 ─ 奇斯洛夫斯基逝世。 十年前，奇斯洛夫斯基正值創作的高峰期，剛完成了《藍白紅三部曲》，正欲退休又復萌創作念頭之際，卻突然心臟病發，手術失敗，卒於波蘭，享年54。臨行前，他遺下了另一個三部曲的電影故事大綱 ─《天堂》、《地獄》和《煉獄》。 四年前《疾走羅拉》導演Tom Tykwer執導的《疾走天堂》，及今年《無人地帶》導演Danis Tanovic執導的《Hell》，便正是奇斯洛夫斯基御用編劇兼老拍檔Krzysztof Piesiewicz，根據他生前寫下的電影大綱所編寫。它們都有奇斯洛夫斯基電影的影子，看得出他那觀人於微，看人性看世界的一份睿智，與他早期的作品一脈相承。 奇斯洛夫斯基早期的電影，拍的都是紀錄片、劇情短片和電視作品。不論那一類型，他的作品都不囿於傳統規範，與當時同期波蘭導演的作品截然不同。他的紀錄片沒有主導性的旁述，一切從人出發，旨在反映現實，尤其是當時波蘭共產政權下的人民生活，以藉小喻大的手法，一方面避免電檢的封鎖，另一方面更貼近人民的角度去批判官僚主義和政府的無能。《車站》、《醫院》、《工廠》和《辦公室》都是此中代表作，平易近人，活現了波蘭人民於共產政權下生活的悲涼和無奈。 奇斯洛夫斯基的劇情片，打從他的第一部學生作品《電車》開始，已看得出他後期作品中經常重複出現的母題：情事的曖昧(《情誡》)、人生的矛盾(《十誡》)、機緣的播弄(《紅》)、命運的安排(《盲打誤撞》)、女性的感觸(《藍》)，而當中最可堪玩味的，莫過於他那不可解釋的感性(《兩生花》)和非敘事性的安排──出現於《十誡》和《藍白紅》中路上拾樽的婆婆──這些特徵，都成了他署名式的標記。 十年了，我們現在只可在銀幕上懷念他的電影，同樣地渡過了十年光影時間的百老匯電影中心(bc)，亦已邁進第十個年頭。十個年頭是一代，我們在這個日子裡籌辦「奇斯洛夫斯基十年祭」，除了讓十年前已成為奇斯洛夫斯基影迷的那一代人懷念這位當代歐洲電影大師之外，更希望在十年後的今天，新一代未有機會在銀幕上看過其作品的年輕影迷，可藉今次較全面的放映，有系統地欣賞他的作品，尤其是今次所選映的早期短片及紀錄片，都是了解奇斯洛夫斯基電影世界的重要作品，錯過者自誤。 March 13, 1996 was a shocking day for cinephiles the world over. On that day Krzysztof Kieslowski died. Ten years ago Kieslowski was at his creative peak. He had just completed his masterpiece, the Three Colours trilogy, and was contemplating retirement while working on a new script. He suffered a heart attack and underwent surgery, but died on the operating table, aged 54. He left behind a detailed treatment for another trilogy entitled Heaven, Hell and Purgotory. Four years ago, Run Lola Run director Tom Tykwer completed Heaven, and this year sees the release of the second film in the trilogy, Hell, directed by Danis Tanovic, whose previous credits include No Man's Land. The script for the film is based on the treatment written by Kieslowski and his long-time collaborator Krzysztof Piesiewicz. The film features characteristically Kieslowskian touches - finely portrayed characters and a deeply humanistic perspective - that harks back to the master's earlier works. Kieslowski started his career making documentaries, short television dramas and, later on, television features. No matter what the genre, he was never satisfied with staying within conventions, and his works showed a marked difference with his contemporaries in Poland. The main focus of Kieslowski's films is always people. His documentaries do not have any commentaries, but instead allow images and conversations to express reality. That reality was life for ordinary people in Poland under Communist rule. By avoiding political commentary, Kieslowski bypassed the censors, yet managed to be highly critical of the country's bureaucracy and government. Railway Station, Factory, Hospital and Office are representative works from this period. Realistic, direct and unpretentious, these films perfectly capture the sense of helplessness and desperation prevalent in Polish society at the time. Starting from his first student short The Tram, Kieslowski's dramatic films share a consistent set of motifs: the unattainability of love (A Short Film About Love), the ironies of life (The Decalogue), the vicissitudes of fate (Red), the role of destiny and chance (Blind Chance), feminine sensibility (Blue), and, most distinctive of all, the role of intuition (The Double Life of Veronique) as well as the depiction of seemingly random incidents from life that are unrelated to the story, like the old woman with the glass bottle that appears in The Decalogue and the Three Colours trilogy.These motifs became his signature, his most distinct contribution to world cinema. The best way of remembering Kieslowski now is through watching his films. Coincidentally, it has also been ten years since the birth of Broadway Cinematheque (bc). We arranged this retrospective program to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Kieslowski's death, and to offer the new generation a chance to see almost all of the master's works on the big screen, including his seldom seen shorts and early documentaries. Don't miss this valuable opportunity!