The digitalization of "Peace and Quiet" was accompanied by in-depth sound and vision restoration. The process was completed on 37th anniversary of the premiere of the film. Originally, the film had to wait 4 years for its official premiere. Krzysztof Kieślowski completed it in 1976, a restless year for the authorities of Polish People’s Republic. The overall message behind the film was disapproved by the censorship and the premiere was halted. It waited until 1980, when first signs of political transformation started to show up. Its television premiere took place on 19 September 1980, less than 3 weeks after the signature of August Agreements which were a result of negotiations between trade unions and the government. The critics considered Kieślowski’s work to be precursor of “cinema of moral concern” The film was awarded the Jury Prize at the Gdańsk Festival in 1981, now known as Gdynia Film Festival.
Digitalization and restoration of the film was a tough challenge. It’s a rare case of a photosensive material on 16 mm film. Usage of this storage medium radically decreases the technical quality of material. In order to produce new master print TVP invited Jacek Petrycki, photographer for "Peace and Quiet" to supervise the project. Thanks to his insights the material gained refreshed artistic expression, yet remained in line with the original intention. It would not be possible without the access to the source material, that is negative film and magnetic audio tape.
TVP has already restored several other films by Kieślowski and there is much more on the way. With its film and television collection containing approximately 126,000 film recordings and 43,000 audio recordings, TVP boasts the biggest archive in Poland. In order to preserve this outstanding heritage, TVP launched the project of “Digitalization of Polish Film and Television School within TVP Archive”. It includes 836 titles from genres such as feature films, series and documentaries. Additionally, 210 of these titles will be thoroughly digitally restored. It will be an overview of the works of the most prominent figures in the history of Polish cinematography since 1962 until 2007. Needles to say, this project makes TVP the leader of the digital restoration.
