Talking Without Shouting

Polish screenwriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz collaborated with Krzysztof Kieslowski on some of his best-known films, among them the Dekalog and the Three Colours trilogy. He shared his views on screenwriting, the documentary and visual culture with an enthusiastic audience at the recent Visions festival in Galway. Lir Mac Cárthaigh was among them. [Extract]

Krzysztof Piesiewicz arrives on the stage of the Town Hall Theatre brandishing a packet of cigarettes. Through Margaret, his interpreter, he tells the audience how happy he is that he can smoke here, as it's a free country. His interlocutor, Gerry Stembridge, quips in sotto voce to the front row: "Don't tell him!" Over a nine-year period, Krzysztof Kieslowski directed fifteen films which he had written with Krzysztof Piesiewicz: the ten Dekalog films, the Three Colours trilogy, La Double vie de Véronique and Bez konca.

Piesiewicz had been a barrister, specialising in criminal defense and family law. He says that when he first met Kieslowski they both had a background in documentary; the director from his run of well-crafted non-fiction films, and the barrister from his many years in the courtroom. Piesiewicz draws a distinction between the kind of documentary that Kieslowski made and the 'reality' programmes which are the obsession of the day. His view is that today's documentary-makers have the advantage of more favourable technology, but that their first consideration must be an ethical one. It is astounding that a reporter can bring a tiny camera up Mount Everest, then wire it to a computer and show the world what he has seen. But it is not right to do something merely because it can be done; he cites the Big Brother phenomenon as an example of a breach in documentary ethics, likening it to lampshades made from human skin.

The full article is printed in Film Ireland 92
More information on the Visions festival is available from their website.