The event is held every year in Sokołowsko, a small, picturesque health resort near the city of Wałbrzych, where Kieślowski lived in the 1950s with his family while his father was treated for tuberculosis in a local sanatorium.
In his autobiography, Kieślowski fondly recalled his first encounters with cinema during his time in Sokołowsko.
Due to a shortage of funds, he said he and his friends used to watch films through a vent in the roof of a movie theatre across the street from his house.
The festival programme includes a selection of some of Kieślowski's major achievements, such as the Decalogue series and the Three Colours trilogy.
The director’s links with Sokołowsko will be highlighted in a special screening of his early documentary Prześwietlenie (X-Ray), which tells stories of people undergoing treatment in the health resort. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the film's release. It was partly shot at the local sanatorium.
This year’s Hommage à Kieślowski festival will be held under the motto "We must help each other."
According to the organizers, this theme reflects what is often referred to as Kieślowski’s "philosophy of social attentiveness," and is mirrored in the selection of documentaries and feature films for the event. These include French director Nicolas Philibert’s On the Adamant, about patients and caregivers at a psychiatric centre in Paris, and Agnieszka Holland’s Green Border about the plight of migrants on Poland’s eastern border with Belarus.
The festival also includes a competition for film school students, designed to encourage young talent to explore themes close to Kieślowski’s philosophy. Additionally, it offers a wide range of meetings with actors and directors.
The event runs until Sunday.
In addition to winning praise for the Decalogue series and the Three Colours trilogy, Kieślowski achieved critical success with films such as Camera Buff, Blind Chance, and The Double Life of Veronique.
He died in 1996 at the age of 54.
(mk/gs)