Award-winning Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Zanussi will visit the University of Aberdeen next week for a series of events.
Since his cinematic debut in 1966, Zanussi (Best Director, Cannes 1980, and Golden Lion, Venice 1984, among many awards) has been the writer-director of a collection of penetrating, personal and profound studies of the ethical, spiritual, philosophical and political consequences of choice.
A distinguished figure on the European scene, Zanussi will visit Aberdeen for the first time, much to the delight of his many fans and film enthusiasts alike.
He will deliver a College Lecture, entitled Evolving Consciousness in Post-Transformation Poland, on Wednesday, May 5, at 5.15pm, in Regent Lecture Theatre at the University. This will be followed by a short reception between 6.15pm and 7.15pm.
His visit will also incorporate a talk to students of Approaches to European Cinema.
Born in 1939, Zanussi graduated from university with degrees in physics and philosophy. From his 70s work as one of the leaders of the Cinema of Moral Anxiety that was a midwife of the Solidarity movement, to his more recent, Life as a Sexually Transmitted Disease (2000), he has weighed the meanings of life and death in a manner both analytical and poetic, scientific and spiritual.
Since he both embodies the gravitas of the intellectual life and immerses it in the most popular of art-forms, the cinema, Zanussi's work displays an exemplary awareness of the depth to which these questions concern us all.
Professor Paul Coates, of Film Studies at the University, said, "Zanussi is one of the key European cineastes of the post-'60s period, and can be described as having jointly founded the Polish 'cinema of moral anxiety', which played an essential role in creating the climate for the emergence of Solidarity.
"Such an impact is hardly surprising, as his work has a tonic aesthetic and moral force rivalled by only a very small numbers of directors of the period anywhere."
In conjunction with the University's Writers Festival Word 04, the Belmont Cinema presents a season of Zanussi's films from Tuesday, May 11, to Thursday, May 13.
This includes a showing of The Constant Factor (awarded Best Director, Cannes 1980) on Wednesday, May 12, at 6pm, followed by a talk and question and answer session by Mr Zanussi.