Dekalog and Other TV Works (5 Blu-ray + 5 DVD)

When Krzysztof Kie lowski began production on a ten-part Polish television series whose budget was so low that he could only afford two takes maximum, nobody foresaw that the end result would be acclaimed as one of the greatest cinema achievements of the late twentieth century.

But that s what Dekalog is: as much an intricate work of moral philosophy as it is a collection of psychologically riveting narratives. Each standalone story revolves around the consequences arising from a breach of one of the Ten Commandments, but this is no finger-wagging religious tract: Kie lowski was one of film history s keenest observers of human nature, and his troubled, vainglorious, self-deceiving, deeply flawed characters (many played by some of Poland s finest character actors) are all too universally recognisable.

But Dekalog is merely the highlight of a box set that compiles virtually all of Kie lowski s television work, starting with his first professional short fiction film and continuing with four feature-length pieces that are in every way as probing and incisive as his better-known cinema films.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

4K restoration of all ten episodes, presented in their original broadcast aspect ratios Original Polish mono soundtrack (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-rays), with optional English subtitles Pedestrian Subway (1973, 29 mins), Kie lowski s professional fiction debut, about a man trying to repair a failed marriage First Love (1974, 52 mins), a docudrama about a teenage couple coping with an unwanted pregnancy Personnel (1975, 67 mins), Kie lowski s first feature-length fiction film, a partly autobiographical piece about a Warsaw theatre company The Calm (1976, 82 mins), one of Kie lowski s most powerful early films, about a man rebuilding his life in mid-70s Poland after a short prison sentence Short Working Day (1981, 73 mins), Kie lowski s study of a political strike, controversially told from the viewpoint of a Communist functionary trying to keep order Krzysztof Kie lowski: Still Alive (2007), an affectionate 82-minute portrait of the director by his former student Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz, including interviews with dozens of friends and colleagues Collector s booklet featuring a lengthy essay on Dekalog and Kie lowski by Father Marek Lis, plus Kie lowski s own intensely self-critical discussion of all the films in this set and Stanley Kubrick s famous eulogy to Kie lowski and co-writer Krzysztof Piesiewicz More extras in development!