Listen to Your Own Voice

“Colour Me Kieslowski” was a discussion aimed at evoking the memory and brilliance of the late Polish maestro, who died ten years ago this coming March. Wim Wenders, Agnieszka Holland, and Andres Veiel shared their thoughts about this inspiring director. After the event, I spoke to Veiel. He was one of Kieslowski’s students when he was teaching in Berlin during the early 1980’s.

What have you learned from Kieslowski?

In essence, it’s a very simple message but at the same time a very complicated one. Kieslowski always maintained: "Listen to your own voice". In other words, tell what you have to tell and don't think too much about your market, your producers, or your commissioning editor. First of all, you have to know what you want to say and that’s the voice you need to follow. Later you have to fight with those boys because if you listen too much to all the advice about how to shoot and how to write and how to make the whole marketing process, you’re just lost. I think you have to be radical and you have to work without compromise. In many films I miss this necessity and this obsession.

What influence did Kieslowski exert on you?

I was asked the same question fifteen years ago when I started to make films and I've said there is no influence. But now, when I look back, I see how many things germinated in my mind when I think about "Balagan" or "Black Box Germany". Sometimes, the structure resembles “A Short Film about Killing”. Two ambivalent characters, a killer and a victim but on the same time, you want to give the killer a chance even if his actions are so repugnant. I think in terms of complexity, to tell the story and to go from one profound contradiction to another, while giving the spectator time to reflect. Kieslowski’s films are great examples of this. In the final analysis, you have these classic films that are so full of oxygen, and they remain fresh and valuable remain even after twenty years.

Is your latest film, "The Kick", still in the Kieslowski idiom?

On each of my projects, I look for a specific form. In terms of a radical approach I think about the story I want to tell, and whether it will emerge as a documentary or a piece of fiction. As "The Kick" stands now, it is extremely abstract, very close to theatre. It’s a challenge to reconcile documentary elements in an artistic setting. Next time around, I’ll be facing another challenge.

Soumaya Beltifa

© Berlinale Talent Campus 2006