SOURCE: "In Memory," in Sight and Sound, Vol. 6, No. 8, August, 1996, p. 69.

In the following essay, Pope asserts that Kieslowski's Three Colors: Blue "tells how, as they say, life goes on, and while you are alive you have no choice but to be part of it."

We were there to choose Best Picture: David Leland, Harry Hook, Sally Hibbin, Mike Figgis, Simon Relph and me. Stephen Frears was late. When he finally arrived, it was quite an entry. "BAFTA owes me £7.50," he bellowed, slinging a seat stub across the table at Chairman Relph. "I paid … paid to see Forrest Gump." The message was clear; no one disagreed. Forrest Gump was no Best Picture.

One film disposed of. That left three others: Four Weddings and a Funeral, Pulp Fiction and Three Colours: Red. No contest, to my mind. Wonderfully enjoyable though the other two were, the prize had to go...