a story lives forever
Register
Sign in
Form submission failed!

Stay signed in

Recover your password?
Register
Form submission failed!

Web of Stories Ltd would like to keep you informed about our products and services.

Please tick here if you would like us to keep you informed about our products and services.

I have read and accepted the Terms & Conditions.

Please note: Your email and any private information provided at registration will not be passed on to other individuals or organisations without your specific approval.

Video URL

You must be registered to use this feature. Sign in or register.

NEXT STORY

Hunting for Flies

RELATED STORIES

The shameful year of 1968
Andrzej Wajda Film-maker
Comments (0) Please sign in or register to add comments

Nie jest na pewno bez znaczenia to, że film Wszystko na sprzedaż realizowany był w tym haniebnym roku 1968. Myślę że, a nawet wiem, to były może nawet najczarniejsze... najczarniejsze lata polskiej kinematografii. Dlatego, że z jednej strony ten nacjonalistyczny gniot, że tak powiem, odpychał naszą kinematografię od... z jednej strony od rzeczywistości, a z drugiej strony od chociażby takich filmów jak Popioły, które by miały jakieś znaczenie polityczne i społeczne. Z drugiej strony te ostatnie lata Gomułki były taką zapaścią zupełną w taką, bym powiedział, czarną dziurę. Nie można było się zorientować czego chcą władze polityczne, właściwie najchętniej by nie chciały żadnej kinematografii. No ale myśmy do tego nie mogli dopuścić, dlatego że już w międzyczasie zaczęli jednak wyrastać nowi ludzie. Wszedł Krzysztof Zanussi, wszedł Jerzy Skolimowski, już Łódzka Szkoła, że tak powiem, zaczęła dawać nam nowe talenty i oni zaczęli tworzyć filmy współczesne, niezależnie od tego wszystkiego, co się działo. No ale sama kinematografia przechodziła głęboki, że tak powiem... polityczną, głęboką przemianę, dlatego że ta wolność, którą dostaliśmy... nie dostaliśmy, tylko wywalczyliśmy – my! Właśnie ludzie filmu wywalczyliśmy dla naszych filmów, dla siebie. Ona w '68 roku, ponieważ całe to obrzydliwe wydarzenie, jakim był ten rok i rozstanie się naszych kolegów, którzy odeszli z kinematografii i emigrowali: Ford, Wohl, cała ta... Wohl został, ale cała ta... Forbetowie... cała ta grupa musiała emigrować, Jerzy Bosak. Jedni na krócej, a drudzy raz na zawsze. Na to miejsce wkroczyła grupa właśnie nacjonalistyczna. Oni opanowali całą sytuację, oni doprowadzili do tego, że te zespoły, które dawniej były kierowane przez ludzi filmu, nagle dostały takich trenehandlerów, czyli mianowanych partyjnych działaczy, którzy zostali szefami tych zespołów i oni mieli opanować sytuację w kinematografii i produkować tylko to, co jest słuszne ideologicznie. No w tej sytuacji  trudno było myśleć o jakimś filmie zaangażowanym, o jakimś filmie politycznym i może dlatego uciekłem od... uciekłem w stronę filmu rodzajowego. Tak powstał film Polowanie na muchy, do którego nigdy nie przywiązywałem większej wagi.

It is undoubtedly not without significance that the film Everything for Sale was made in the shameful year of 1968. I think, in fact, I know that these were the darkest years of Polish cinematography. Because, on the one hand, there was this nationalist pressure, so to speak, which was pushing our cinematography away from reality, and on the other, away from films like Ashes which was of some politcal and sociological significance. On the other hand, those last years of Gomułka's government were a total collapse into what I'd call a black hole. It was hard to tell what the political authorities wanted, most probably they didn't want any cinematography at all, but we couldn't allow that to happen because in the meantime new people had appeared. There was Krzysztof Zanussi, Jerzy Skolimowski.  Łódź film school was beginning to give us new talents who were creating contemporary films, independently of what was going on. Yet cinematography itself was undergoing a profound political transformation because that freedom that we'd got, in fact not got but had won for ourselves, we people of the film world had fought and won for our films and for ourselves. This freedom in '68, because this whole disgusting event which this year embodies, and the separation from our friends who left cinematography and emigrated: Ford, Wohl, Wohl stayed, all of them, the Foberts, that whole group was forced to emigrate, Jerzy Bosak... Some went for a short time, others for good. Their place was taken by a group of nationalists. They took over and they were responsible for studios that were previously led by film-makers getting these 'trainer-handlers', or in other words, Party activists who had been nominated and who had been made the managers of these studios; they were supposed to take the situation in hand and only produce films that were ideologically sound. Under those circumstances, it was hard to imagine a film that was sincere, a political film, so perhaps that's why I escaped into genre cinema. This is how the film Hunting for Flies came about, which I never attached much significance to.

Polish film director Andrzej Wajda (1926-2016) was a towering presence in Polish cinema for six decades. His films, showing the horror of the German occupation of Poland, won awards at Cannes and established his reputation as both story-teller and commentator on Poland's turbulent history. As well as his impressive career in TV and film, he also served on the national Senate from 1989-91.

Listeners: Jacek Petrycki

Cinematographer Jacek Petrycki was born in Poznań, Poland in 1948. He has worked extensively in Poland and throughout the world. His credits include, for Agniezka Holland, Provincial Actors (1979), Europe, Europe (1990), Shot in the Heart (2001) and Julie Walking Home (2002), for Krysztof Kieslowski numerous short films including Camera Buff (1980) and No End (1985). Other credits include Journey to the Sun (1998), directed by Jesim Ustaoglu, which won the Golden Camera 300 award at the International Film Camera Festival, Shooters (2000) and The Valley (1999), both directed by Dan Reed, Unforgiving (1993) and Betrayed (1995) by Clive Gordon both of which won the BAFTA for best factual photography. Jacek Petrycki is also a teacher and a filmmaker.

Tags: Everything for Sale, Ashes, Hunting for Flies, Krzysztof Zanussi, Jerzy Skolimowski, Jerzy Bosak

Duration: 3 minutes, 32 seconds

Date story recorded: August 2003

Date story went live: 24 January 2008