Studying physics & philosophy prior to completing a degree at the Lodz Film School, Krzysztof Zanussi’s (1939-) films combine complex philosophical & scientific debate with a humane realism. Along with his films’ gritty & involving imagery, these characteristics placed his work at the vanguard of Eastern European Cinema in the 1970s and ’80s. However, with the collapse of communism his films seemingly became less relevant & Zanussi’s reputation has declined in recent times, with his later films rarely achieving the profundity or greatness of his earlier works. This season, including a screening of his new film, Revisited, a resounding return to form featuring many of the superb actors from his early films, is an attempt to reintroduce viewers to the keen cinematic vision of one of Eastern Europe’s most profound filmmakers, from his first award-winning short Death of a Provincial to his complex essay on moral & ethical issues Illumination. Also screening in this season is his incisive picture of the academic world, Camouflage, & the eloquent, graceful & witty, Life as a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease.

7:00 - DEATH OF A PROVINCIAL
Krzysztof Zanussi (1966) 30 mins

Zanussi’s diploma film is a multi-award winning work that helped redefine international perceptions of Polish cinema. A subtle & erudite account of the tense relationship between the dying Provincial of a secluded monastery & a young student employed to restore its frescoes, this anxious, mostly silent drama introduces many of the key philosophical, ethical, spiritual & generational questions & conflicts that have preoccupied the director for the rest of his career.

Print courtesy of Filmoteka Narodowa.

7:40 - REVISITED
Krzysztof Zanussi (2009) 90 mins

Zanussi returns to form in this reflexive & playful summary work that features the young star of his previous film (And a Warm Heart) “revisiting” the actors & characters of key works in the director’s earlier career. Blurring the distinctions between fiction & documentary, character & actor, in a fashion akin to the work of Kiarostami & Makhmalbaf, Zanussi takes stock of his career & creates a fascinating palimpsest from the fictional worlds of Family Life, Camouflage, & The Constant Factor. With Zbigniew Zapasiewicz, Jan Nowicki, Maja Komorowska, Tadeusz Bradecki.

print courtesy of

9:20 - ILLUMINATION
Krzysztof Zanussi (1972) 91 mins

Mixing together a fictional story with statistics & documentary footage, Zanussi’s intellectually probing, mosaic-like film examines the dialectical relationships between thought & emotion, mind & body, science & art, the rational & the merely instinctive. A young physics graduate seeking clarification of the certainty of things is shaken by a turbulent romantic relationship & the sudden death of a friend. A deeply philosophical & melancholy account of the road to enlightenment.

35mm print courtesy of Filmoteka Narodowa.

7:00 - CAMOUFLAGE
Krzysztof Zanussi (1977) 106 mins

This characteristically intelligent, scholarly but pensive comic tale of a young, idealistic but impressionable teacher who comes under the sway of a cynical & abrasive older professor (Zbigniew Zapasiewicz) while attending a summer linguistics camp, is one of Zanussi’s most commercially successful, critically celebrated & revealing films. The film’s bold if circular examination of ethics & morality provides a lucid but cloaked critique of conformity & the corrupt communist regime.

35mm print courtesy of Filmoteka Narodowa

9:00 - LIFE AS A FATAL SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASE
Krzysztof Zanussi (2000) 100 mins M

Upon discovering he is terminally ill, a middle-aged doctor (Zbigniew Zapasiewicz) questions everything he has believed in & with a newfound freedom goes to Paris to transcend his last days with experimentation & abandon, affecting all around him in the process. Zanussi’s key themes of morality, death & inter-relationships coalesce in what is perhaps his most personal & boldest film. Upon its release this film was hugely popular in Poland, despite its downbeat subject, & won several awards around the globe.

35mm print courtesy of Filmoteka Narodowa

7:00 - BEHIND THE WALL
Krzysztof Zanussi (1971) 56 mins

Zanussi’s minimalist, authentic made-for-TV drama tells the contrastive stories of a successful & somewhat smug young scientist (Zbigniew Zapasiewicz) & the frustrated, despairing & “unsuccessful” woman (Maja Komorowska) who lives in the next apartment literally “behind the wall”. An intimate examination of fate, everyday life, physical existence & the limits of humanist empathy & concern, this chamber work is “a small masterpiece” (Boleslaw Michalek) of Polish cinema.

35mm print courtesy of Filmoteka Narodowa.

8:05 - THE STRUCTURE OF CRYSTALS
Krzysztof Zanussi (1969) 74 mins

Two science professors, once close colleagues & friends but whose lives have taken separate paths, find their quotidian existence & attitudes upturned after a reunion in a frosty, remote weather-station. Zanussi’s striking debut feature, an unassuming & sensitive black-&-white portrayal of a dissolving bond, won him the Polish film critics’ Best Film award. The film also marks his first collaboration (still continuing today) with the composer Wojciech Kilar, whose melancholic, spare score accentuates the crisp solitude of the European winter.

p35mm print courtesy of Filmoteka Narodowa.

9:30 - FAMILY LIFE
Krzysztof Zanussi (1971) 88 mins

After 6 years away, an industrial designer (played by Daniel Olbrychski, Andrzej Wajda’s principal actor) is called back to his country family home, now a dilapidated mansion, to find his father is an alcoholic & his sister a suicidal nymphomaniac. Zanussi’s second feature deals with several moral dilemmas surrounding the individual’s responsibilities to one’s family & oneself, & ignited much philosophical & ethical debate in the Polish press upon its release.

p35mm print courtesy of Filmoteka Narodowa