THREE COLORS: WHITE

“To tell the truth,” said Krzysztof Kieślowski of his THREE COLORS trilogy, “I dreamed up the color theme . . . merely to facilitate French financing.” Joking or not, the Polish director was referring to a new hierarchy in international cinema after the fall of the Soviet Union, which decimated state funding for culture in Central and Eastern Europe. The middle film in the trilogy, WHITE, traces these new, exploitative routes of exchange between West and East with gentle humor. Forsaken by his French wife Dominique (Julie Delpy), hairdresser Karol Karol (Zbigniew Zamachowski) smuggles himself to Poland in a suitcase and attempts to prosper in post-communist Warsaw—even as the égalité evoked by the title’s color drifts out of reach. Zbigniew Preisner’s moving score is similarly pitched between the potentialities and harsh realities of a newly connected continent.

Awards & Nominations

Winner - Silver Bear, Berlin Film Festival
Nominee - Golden Bear, Berlin Film Festival

Contact Zones: Cinema of Globalization, 1989–2024

Fall 2026 Lecture Series

“We might have come to the end of something,” Adam Curtis reflected recently, referring to "globalization," which began with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. But just how well do we know this world that we were, until recently, living in? Brief lectures before screenings and open discussions afterwards will cover background on local histories related to films in the series as well as theories of globalization, neoliberalism, migration, and digital culture. Presented in collaboration with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism. Lecturer: Professor Daniel R. Quiles. Select titles offered with Sunday encores; encores do not include lecture. 

The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu