Krzysztof Kieślowski, born in 1941 in Warsaw, was one of the leading Polish directors of feature films and documentaries in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, whose work explored the social and moral issues of his time. He studied theatre technique in Warsaw, then graduated from the National School of Theatre and Film in Łódź in 1968. Before his untimely death in 1996, at the age of 54, the Polish filmmaker followed a unique career path, from the socially engaged documentaries and realistic dramas of his early years to the ambitious metaphysical explorations of The Decalogue and the Three Colours trilogy, which earned him international renown and established him as one of the most acclaimed European filmmakers of his generation.