Poland's preeminent contemporary film composer, Zbigniew Preisner was born May 20, 1955 in Bielsko-Biala; while studying history and philosophy at the University of Cracow he began writing music, and in 1981 scored his first picture, Antoni Krauze's #Prognoza pogody. Krauze introduced Preisner to filmmaker Krzystof Kieslowski, with whom he enjoyed his most fruitful collaboration; beginning with 1985's #Bez konca, the two worked together on a series of projects including the 1987 television miniseries #Dekalog and the 1991 feature #La Double vie de Véronique which brought them both international acclaim. The latter picture introduced Preisner's musical alter ego Van den Budenmayer, a fictitious Dutch composer whose "work" surfaced in subsequent projects. 1991 also saw Preisner step outside Eastern Europe to work with Brazil's Hector Babenco on #At Play in the Fields of the Lord; he subsequently worked with filmmakers including Louis Malle (#Damage) and Agnieszka Holland (#Olivier, Olivier and #The Secret Garden. In 1993 he reunited with Kieslowski for #Bleu, the first chapter in the director's celebrated "Trois Coleurs" trilogy; Preisner's score for the concluding chapter, 1994's #Rouge, earned a Cesar, the French equivalent of an Academy Award. He and Kieslowski were scheduled to begin work on a trilogy exploring themes of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory when the director died on March 13, 1996; Preisner later celebrated Kieslowski's life and work with the release of Requiem for My Friend. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi