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Revenge - a film about Poles

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The role of the film director in today's Poland
Andrzej Wajda Film-maker
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In the light of this, the question arises what is our role, what is the role of the film director today in Poland? Of course, the young generation has a different problem: there's one thing it wants, and this is beautiful, I, too, rest my hopes in this. The young generation wants to show reality as it really is and gradually an audience is also emerging that wants to watch its own films, films that show a reality which either cheers us or causes us grief. Nevertheless, is it a mistake - and for the first time, I felt I wasn't mistaken, not because six million people saw this film when no one had wanted to go and see my earlier films, only this time I thought to myself why shouldn't I make a film for a Polish audience, why should this be some kind of mistake? In other cinematographies, other films are made which attract huge audiences, and then these films come over to us but they're neither funny nor interesting. These films pass unnoticed over here. Maybe that's how it is, that Europe is a world composed of many different worlds and that if a film pleases a Polish audience, perhaps that's reason enough to make it. We had become accustomed to thinking that if a film hasn't won the Palme d'Or in Cannes, or the Golden Lion in Venice, then what sort of film was it? Well, it could always win a Bear in Berlin. However, perhaps today we should take into account the fact that our audiences are searching for a new identity and find it in films like Pan Tadeusz and Revenge, which was the next film I made. Revenge is based on a very popular stage play with wonderful parts played by great actors. Why transfer this to the screen? Why show it again? This is what everyone was saying to me. After which it suddenly turned out that at a time when fewer and fewer people were going to the cinema because of the financial recession, this film had an audience of two million viewers, while the film that had been publicised most widely had an audience of two and-a-half million.

No i teraz następuje pytanie wobec tego: jaka jest nasza rola? Jaka jest dzisiaj rola reżysera filmowego w Polsce? Oczywiście myślę, że młode pokolenie ma inny problem. Młode pokolenie chce jednej rzeczy i to jest piękne. Na tym buduję i ja wielkie nadzieje. Młode pokolenie chce pokazać rzeczywistość taką, jaka ona jest i powoli zaczyna się też pojawiać widownia, która chce oglądać właśnie jej filmy, które pokazują rzeczywistość, która nas albo cieszy, albo nam doskwiera. Natomiast czy to jest błąd, a pierwszy raz poczułem, że nie zrobiłem błędu. Nie dlatego, że przyszło sześć milionów ludzi, a na poprzednie moje filmy nikt nie chciał przyjść do kina, tylko dlatego, że pomyślałem sobie: a dlaczego mam nie zrobić filmu dla polskiej widowni, dlaczego to ma być jakiś błąd? A przecież w innych kinematografiach powstają filmy, gdzie przychodzi ogromna widownia, a później te filmy przychodzą do nas i to nas ani nie śmieszy, ani nie ciekawi. Filmy te przechodzą u nas niezauważone. Może to jest tak właśnie, że Europa jest światem złożonym z wielu światów i że film dla polskiej widowni, jeżeli ją satysfakcjonuje, może to jest wystarczający powód, żeby zrobić. Myśmy się przyzwyczaili, że jeżeli film nie dostanie Złotej Palmy w Cannes, jeżeli nie dostanie Złotego Lwa w Wenecji, to co to jest za film. No jeszcze w Berlinie może dostać Niedźwiedzia. Natomiast dzisiaj może... może powinniśmy brać pod uwagę właśnie to, że widownia nasza szuka swojej tożsamości i w takich filmach jak Pan Tadeusz i w takich filmach, jaki zrobiłem następny, to znaczy Zemsta, w jakiś sposób odnajduje się. W filmie Zemsta, który jest zrobiony ze sztuki teatralnej, granej, bardzo popularnej, ze wspaniałymi rolami, które grali wielcy aktorzy. Po co to przenosić na ekran? Po co to jeszcze raz pokazywać? Wszyscy mi tak tłumaczyli. Po czym nagle okazuje się, że w tych czasach, kiedy w polskich kinach pojawia się coraz mniej widzów ze względu na finansową recesję, ten film zyskał dwa miliony widzów, a film, który zyskał najwięcej publiczności miał dwa i pół.

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: Palme d'Or, Cannes, Golden Lion, Bear, Pan Tadeusz, Revenge

Duration: 2 minutes, 51 seconds

Date story recorded: August 2003

Date story went live: 24 January 2008