Dekalog
(DVD)

Originally released as a television series in Poland in 1988.

Special features: New, restored 4k digital transfer of all twelve films; Selection of archival interviews with director Krzysztof Kieślowski, taken from a 1987 television piece on the production of Dekalog: Two, excerpts from the 1995 documentary A Short Film About "Dekalog", and a 1990 audio recording from the National Film Theatre in London; New program on the formal and thematic patterns of Dekalog by film studies professor Annette Insdorf; New and archival interview with Dekalog cast and crew, including cowriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz, thirteen actors, three cinematographers, editor Ewa Smal, and Kieślowski confidante Hanna Krall; Trailers. Accompanying book includes the essay "And so on": Kieślowski's Dekalog and the metaphysics of the everyday by film studies professor Paul Coates, along with excerpts from Kieślowski on Kieślowski.

Cinematographers, Wiesław Zdort, Edward Kłosiński, Piotr Sobociński, Krzysztof Pakulski, Sławomir Idziak, Witold Adamek, Dariusz Kuc, Andrzej Jaroszewicz, Jacek Bławut ; editor, Ewa Smal ; composer, Zbigniew Preisner.

Henryk Baranowski, Wojciech Klata, Maja Komorowska [I]; Krystyna Janda, Aleksander Bardini, Olgierd Łukaszewicz [II]; Daniel Olbrychski, Maria Pakulnis, Joanna Szczepkowska [III]; Adrianna Biedrzyńska, Janusz Gajos [IV]; Mirosław Baka, Krzysztof Globisz, Zbigniew Zapasiewicz, Jan Tesarz [V]; Grażyna Szapołowska, Olaf Lubaszenko [VI]; Anna Polony, Maja Barelkowska, Władyslaw Kowalski, Bogusław Linda [VII]; Maria Kościałowska, Teresa Marczewska [VIII]; Ewa Błaszczyk, Piotr Machalica, Jan Jankowski [IX]; Jerzy Stuhr, Zbigniew Zamachowski, Henryk Bista [X]; Artur Barciś.

Originally made for Polish television, Dekalog focuses on the residents of a housing complex in post-Communist Poland, whose lives become subtly intertwined as they face emotional dilemmas that are at once deeply personal and universally human. Using the Ten Commandments for thematic inspiration and an overarching structure, the ten hour-long films deftly grapple with complex moral and existential questions concerning life, death, love, hate, truth, and the passage of time. Also presented are the longer theatrical versions of the series' fifth and sixth films: A Short Film About Killing and A Short Film About Love.

DVD, NTSC region 1, full screen (1.33:1) and widescreen (1.70:1) presentations; Dolby Digital monaural.

In Polish with English subtitles.

Awards: Cannes special jury prize ; European film award ; Fipresci award, Venice film festival ; San Sebastian special jury prize ; Sao Paolo critics award ; Chicago film critics, best foreign language film.

DVD