Still Alive: Film o Krzysztofie Kieslowskim (2006)

This is a beautifully made and totally engrossing feature-length retrospective portrait of Kieslowski by a former student of his who is now one of Poland's finest documentary filmmakers. Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz gives a lot of attention to the beginnings of Kieslowski’s career: his studies at the Lodz Film School and his first documentary films. The film recounts as fully as possible the artistic path of Kieslowski and the character of the man, presenting a portrait of a fulfilled artist, of a director wholly engaged in the drama of the time of his protagonists. An important aspect of the documentary is how it tries to explain the phenomenon of Kieslowski’s reception in Poland and abroad, as well as an analysis what is the standing of his work today and who is following in his footsteps.
The film is richly illustrated with archival material as well as excerpts from the student, documentary, and feature films of Krzysztof Kieslowski. Zmarz-Koczanowicz uses the late director's own words as well as scraps of memories kept by his friends and colleagues: Wim Wenders, Agnieszka Holland, Slawomir Idziak, Jacek Petrycki, Grazyna Szapolowska, Tadeusz Sobolewski, Irene Jacob, Zbigniew Preisner, Marcin Latallo, Juliette Binoche, Andrzej Titkow, Andreas Veiel, Krzysztof Zanussi, and others. Loved and admired, Kieslowski was a filmmaker's filmmaker: "Cinema is about drudgery. It is about getting up early, about not sleeping at night, about fretting, about rain. This is cinema, this is real cinema. And the moments of satisfaction happen seldom."
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