Education: University of Warsaw (physics); University of Cracow (philosophy); Lódz Film School, Zanussi's 1966 diploma film, The Death of a Provincial, won a number of international awards, setting him on the way to becoming Poland's premier film director, after Andrzej Wajda.

Zanussi's first feature film, The Structure of Crystals (1969), set like many of his works in the scientific community, concerns the divergent paths taken by two school friends pursuing their scientific careers. It received the best picture award from Polish Film critics that year. Family Life (1971) is a meditative study of a young technocrat whose return to his family roots precipitates an emotional and intellectual crisis, while Behind The Wall (1971) further analyzes the conflict between professional duty and personal emotion, which has been a major theme in all of the director's work, probably most directly in his acclaimed effort, Illumination (1973). During this time, Zanussi also found time to make a number of short films for Polish and West German television, and in 1974, he further expanded his horizons with The Catamount Killing, shot in the US with an American and West German cast.

Zanussi's concern with the conflict between public and private morality, official corruption and the delicate balance between intellect and intuition are further explored in A Woman's Decision (1977), Camouflage (1977) and Spirale/Spiral/Quarterly Balance (1978). In a cameo appearance as himself in Krzysztof Kieslowski's Camera Buff (1979), Zanussi expresses his interest in the workings of corruption and the dilemma we face when it becomes apparent that success in the world is usually achieved only when our values are compromised. This philosophical and moral dilemma is fully explored in Ways In The Night (1979), in which a basically decent German officer is called on to uphold the policies of National Socialism, and in The Constant Factor (1980), one of Zanussi's finest films, where the problem is further complicated by the workings of chance: the young protagonist loses his opportunities for a successful career because of his refusal to compromise his ideals, only to become the unwitting cause of a tragedy.

In 1980, Zanussi turned to black comedy in another of his best films, Contract, a merciless depiction of the Polish ruling class in which a son, disgusted by his family's decadent, materialistic lifestyle, burns down the family home. In the same year, he also turned his talents to quite another kind of project when he was chosen to direct From A Far Country, the biography of Pope John Paul II. Although a staunch supporter of the Solidarity movement, Zanussi would seem to be philosophically far from the conservative Catholic orthodoxy of the Polish Pope, but his customary objectivity and sharp eye for various social forces at work yield an enlightening portrait of Polish society in transition.
After the temporary defeat of the Solidarity movement in the mid-1980s, Zanussi worked abroad, mostly for German television. With the latest political developments in his native country it will be interesting to see where this most intellectual and provocative of filmmakers will turn his attention. Zanussi has always been an artist more likely to pose questions than to propose answers, and will most certainly continue to challenge his audience in films to come.

Filmography Krzysztof Zanussi – as director/screenwriter
1966 Death of a Provincial
1969 The Structure of Crystals/Struktura krysztalu
1971 Behind the Wall/Za Sciana
1971 Family Life/Zycie Rodzinne
1973 Illumination/Iluminacja
1974 The Catamount Killing as director only
1977 Camouflage/Barwy Ochronne
1977 A Woman's Decision
1978 Spirale
1979 Camera Buff/Amator as performer
1979 Ways in the Night/Wege in der Nacht
1980 The Constant Factor/Constans only as director
1980 Contract only as director
1981 From a Far Country: Pope John Paul II director
1982 Die Unerreichbare director, screenwriter—from plays The Unapproachable and Scout's Honor
1982 Imperative
1984 Bluebeard/Blaubart
1984 The Year of the Quiet Sun/Rok Spokonjnego Slonca
1985 Le Pouvoir du Mal
1987 Le Jeune magicien producer
1988 Gdzieskolwiek jest, jeslis jest
1988 The Road Home art director
1989 And the Violins Stopped Playing executive producer
1989 Stan Posiadania
1991 Life for Life - Maximilian Kolbe/Leben fur Leben - Maximilian Kolbe director
1992 Our Hollywood Education doc. appearance