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How to make a film in Poland in the '60s

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The pleasure of making The Promised Land compared with Gierek's era
Andrzej Wajda Film-maker
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Why did we immerse ourselves in this world with such joy? Because all around us, unfortunately Gierek's era, you could already see that nothing would come of this either, that all our hopes that something will come alive, will happen, that we'll awake from this hopeless sleep and have the opportunity for some kind of initiative, all of this disappeared so at that moment a film about energy, enterprise, a film saying that everyone answers for himself and directs his own life was a fantastic antidote to the hopeless stagnation that Gierek had bestowed on us after we had had such high expectations of him. So all of these elements paved the way for our film after which the making of the film was just one long happy experience. We were constantly changing location, new characters kept arriving, the scenes kept changing. Halfway through the film, Witold Sobociński had to leave because he was making a film abroad, so Edward Kłosiński remained and continued shooting. A second camera was operated by Wacław Dybowski. I have to say that it was these two cameras, and at times three, which each time gave more material which proved of great value during editing and gave this film a lot of energy.

A dlaczego zanurzyliśmy się w taki świat z radością? Dlatego, że dookoła niestety epoka Gierka, już było widać, że nic znowu z tego nie będzie, że wszystkie nasze nadzieje, że się ożywi, że coś się stanie, że się obudzimy z jakiegoś tego beznadziejnego snu, że dostaniemy szansę na jakąś inicjatywę – wszystko to przepadło. I w tym momencie film o... film o energii, film o przedsiębiorczości, film o tym, że każdy odpowiada za siebie i że kieruje własnym życiem był czymś fantastycznym jako odtrutka na tę beznadziejną taką stagnację, którą Gierek nas, że tak powiem, obdarzył, po którym tak wiele żeśmy się spodziewali. Tak że wszystkie te elementy wyszły naprzeciw naszemu filmowi. No a potem to było jedno pasmo, że tak powiem, radości – robienie tego filmu. Dlatego że ciągle byliśmy w nowej scenerii, ciągle pojawiały się nowe postacie, ciągle nowe sceny. Witold Sobociński w połowie filmu odszedł, dlatego że robił jakiś film za granicą, został Edward Kłosiński, który dalej kontynuował, jeszcze jedna kamera była Wacława Dybowskiego. I muszę powiedzieć, że właśnie te dwie kamery za każdym razem, a i trzy czasem, dawały więcej materiału, który bardzo dobrze się sprawdził w czasie montażu i dał temu filmowi dużo energii.

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: Edward Gierek, Witold Sobociński, Edward Kłosiński, Wacław Dybowski

Duration: 1 minute, 38 seconds

Date story recorded: August 2003

Date story went live: 24 January 2008