- Occupation
Producer, Director - Country
Belgium
Dardenne Jean-Pierre
K.O.R.
Warsaw, Poland at the end of the 1970s. The workers’ revolt, violently repressed by the authorities mobilizes a group of individuals to create KOR, or Workers’ Defense Committee. Heir to the communist regime opposition movement since the end of the second world war and supported by figures rising up against social injustices since the 1920s, KOR consists of committed people, with simple yet efficient methods, unusual ethics, and the will to shatter the state information monopoly and to establish an independent workers’ organization. In 1980, KOR’s activities lead to the birth of Solidarnosc, the country’s first independent Union. By offering an insight into KOR’s actions and words with three of its protagonists, the film recounts the story of one of the ends to Communism in Europe.
Warsaw, Poland at the end of the 1970s. The workers’ revolt, violently repressed by the authorities mobilizes a group of individuals to create KOR, or Workers’ Defense Committee. Heir to the communist regime opposition movement since the end of the second world war and supported by figures rising up against social injustices since the 1920s, KOR consists of committed people, with simple yet efficient methods, unusual ethics, and the will to shatter the state information monopoly and to establish an independent workers’ organization. In 1980, KOR’s activities lead to the birth of Solidarnosc, the country’s first independent Union. By offering an insight into KOR’s actions and words with three of its protagonists, the film recounts the story of one of the ends to Communism in Europe.
After studying drama in the arts institute, Jean Pierre Dardenne and his brother Luc made some videos about the rough life in blue-collar small towns in the Wallonie. After their meeting with filmmaker Armad Gatti and cinematographer Ned Burgess, they decided to enter in the movie business.
In 1978 they shot their first documentary, Le chant du rossignol, about the resistance against the Nazis during the second world war in Belgium. In 1986 they shot their first fiction movie, Falsch, about a Jewish family massacred by the Nazis. After their second movie, Je pense a vous, they released La Promesse, a movie about inmigration in Belgium. The film was a success worldwide winning awards in many festivals.
In 1999 they had another hit with Rosetta, that won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Festival. The movie tells the story of a blue collar worker with an alcoholic mother who tries to have a better life in a small belgium city.
In 2002, they came back to Cannes with their last movie, Le Fils, that won the ecumenical jury prize and the award for best actor for Olivier Gourmet.