A Short Film about Killing (1988)

Eating Popcorn like a Lawyer: A Law and Film Seminar Series

The Law and Cinema 2025 team is thrilled to inaugurate a new season with its first screening, the intense and captivating investigation of societal forms of violence: A Short Film about Killing (1988), by Krzysztof Kieslowski.

Freshly admitted to the bar, Piotr Balicki embarks on his career as an idealistic public defender. He soon confronts death when he is tasked with defending a twenty-year-old murderer. Despite his best efforts, the conviction and sentence come as no surprise, setting in motion yet another destructive cycle. Through this cold, implacable unfolding of brutality, a powerful lament against all forms of violence emerges.