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Palme d'Or in Cannes

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Premiere of Man of Iron
Andrzej Wajda Film-maker
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Film został pokazany najpierw... i to mi się wydawało też słuszne, jakieś ładne, że pojechaliśmy najpierw do Poznania, żeby pokazać to robotnikom, którzy budowali pomnik '56 roku. Wielki, wspaniały jakby moment, kiedy wreszcie można było powiedzieć prawdę o tych wydarzeniach. Oni zobaczyli pierwsi ten film. I pierwszy pokaz się odbył o godzinie siódmej rano, bo oni schodzili z roboty, druga zmiana i od razu poszła do kina zobaczyć film. A potem pojechaliśmy do Gdyni i pokazaliśmy film w Gdyni. Widownia wstała i odśpiewała hymn Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła. No muszę powiedzieć, że tego się nie spodziewałem, że taką reakcję może ten film wywołać. No oczywiście, że to była fala entuzjazmu. Czy film był dobry, czy był zły? Jakie to ma znaczenie? Nie było takiego filmu, nikt takiego filmu nie zrobił. I nikt by takiego filmu nie zrobił.

I powiem więcej, gdybym ja nie robił tak dużo filmów jeden po drugim, że nie zdążę opowiedzieć o nich wszystkich, to pewnie nie zdecydowałbym się robić filmów w takich warunkach. Bo zdrowy rozsądek by mi nakazywał, że a dlaczego? Trzeba chwilę zaczekać, trzeba mieć scenariusz, trzeba wiedzieć o czym jest opowiadanie, trzeba mieć pewność, że na ekranie z tych strzępów powstanie jakieś kino. Ale ja uważałem, że ten moment jest albo teraz, albo nigdy. A ponieważ ile razy stałem przed wyborem albo teraz, albo nigdy, wybierałem teraz, bo nigdy dla mnie nie istniało. Wydawało mi się, że... że to jest jedyna droga słuszna. Tym razem też wybrałem teraz i robiliśmy ten film w wielkiej, jak mówię, szybkości, w pewnym popłochu. Ale dzięki temu zdążyliśmy przed wydarzeniami i tutaj jeszcze raz była próba władzy partyjnej, szefa kinematografii, żeby filmu nie pokazać na ekranach. No ale już nie byłem sam.

The film was shown for the first time, and I think this was the right thing to do, that we first went to Poznań to show it to the workers who had built the 1956 monument. It was a great, a wonderful moment when the truth could at last be told about those events. They were the first to see that film. The first showing was at 7:00 in the morning as they were coming off their shift, and they went straight to the cinema to see the film. Then we went to Gdynia so show the film there. The audience stood up and sang the national anthem, Poland Is Not Yet Lost... I have to say that I hadn't expected that my film could have elicited a reaction like that. Of course, this was a wave of enthusiasm. Was the film good or bad? What does it matter? There was no film like it. No one had made a film like this nor would anyone else have made it. More than this, if I hadn't made so many films one after the other so that I can't even keep up with talking about them, I would probably not have decided to make films in those conditions. Because common sense said why? You need to wait a while, you need to have a screenplay, you need to know what the story's about, you need to be certain that those fragments you have can be made into cinema that can be screened. But I believed that this moment was now or never, and each time I've been faced with this kind of choice, I've always chosen now, because never doesn't exist for me. It seemed to me that this was the only proper route to take. This time, I also chose now and, as I've said, we made this film in great haste, almost in panic. But thanks to this, we made it before the events and the Party authorities tried once again to prevent this film from being shown in cinemas. But I was no longer alone.

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: Man of Iron, Poznań, Gdynia

Duration: 2 minutes, 17 seconds

Date story recorded: August 2003

Date story went live: 24 January 2008