Krzysztof Kieslowski Documentaries

Programme

• Talking Heads (Gadające głowy)

1980, 16 mins 

Kieślowski interviews a cross-section of Polish people—ranging from infants to centenarians—posing questions such as “When were you born?”, “Who are you?”, and “What do you most wish for?” Their responses form a mosaic of hopes, identities, and concerns, creating a living portrait of Polish society at a moment of social and political tension.

• From a Night Porter’s Point of View (Z punktu widzenia nocnego portiera)

1977, 17 mins 

Marian Osuch, a factory night porter, delivers an unsettlingly frank account of his life and worldview. Much of the film follows him at work as he explains his strict belief in order, rules, and the enforcement of authority, including support for harsh punishments and suppression of dissent.

• Seven Women of Different Ages

1979, 16 mins 

A poetic portrait of seven ballet dancers at different stages of their dance life: each vignette observes the women in rehearsal and performance, forming a meditation on aging, aspiration, discipline, and the passage of time as expressed through the demanding art of classical dance.

• Hospital (Szpital)

1977, 21 mins

Filmed in the emergency department of a Warsaw hospital, this cinéma-vérité piece captures the relentless pace of medical work—from briefings to night shifts—without voice-over commentary. The camera observes doctors and patients in tense, sometimes darkly humorous situations, revealing the pressures of care under demanding conditions and offering a gritty, humanist glimpse into everyday hospital life in Communist Poland.

• Refrain (Refren)

1972, 10 mins

One of Kieślowski’s early non-fiction shorts, Refrain juxtaposes images of bureaucracy at work with the ritual of a funeral and the continuation of paperwork afterward. In doing so, the film reflects on the mechanical persistence of institutional routines and how everyday systems persist even in the face of human loss