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A Japanese play and the film Nastasia
Andrzej Wajda Film-maker
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Unfortunately, at that time, I was doing a play in Japan with a very well known Japanese actor who plays a woman - onnagata - Tamasaburo Bando. We did a play together in Tokyo and then went on to Osaka. The play was very successful and Tamasaburo Bando wanted it to be filmed. I thought to myself: go to Japan? Who will I make the film with over there? It's better if he comes here to Poland, especially since it's quite an intimate story with just two actors. He came and we put the play on a few times in Warsaw so that he could get accustomed to us, and I also wanted to show this play to Polish audiences because I was very proud of it; to this day, I consider it to be one of the more interesting plays that I have put on in my lifetime. We transferred this play to the screen as if it were a quasi-film. This was my next project; the film was called Nastasia and it was never shown in Poland. It was made especially for Japanese audiences, the dialogue was in Japanese and even our television never took an interest in it.

Akurat nieszczęśliwym trafem w tym czasie realizowałem w Japonii spektakl z bardzo znanym japońskim aktorem, który gra kobietę – onagata – Tamasaburo Bando. No i zrobiliśmy razem przedstawienie w Tokio, potem przeniesione do Osaka. Przedstawienie miało wielki sukces i Tamasaburo Bando chciał mieć film z tego spektaklu. Pomyślałem sobie – jechać do Japonii, z kim tam robić ten film, niech on lepiej przyjedzie do Polski, tym bardziej, że to jest kameralna historia, dwóch aktorów tylko. On przyjechał, zagraliśmy kilka razy tu w Warszawie, żeby on się oswoił z miejscem. Poza tym chciałem pokazać ten spektakl polskiej widowni, bo byłem bardzo dumny z tego spektaklu i do dziś uważam go za jeden z ciekawszych przedstawień, jakie mi się udało zrobić w życiu. No i przenieśliśmy ten spektakl na ekran, tak jakby to był taki quasi-film. To była następna moja praca. Film się nazywał Nastazja, nie był w Polsce w ogóle pokazany, nigdy. Tylko był zrobiony specjalnie dla japońskiej widowni, zresztą mówiony był po japońsku i nawet nasza telewizja nigdy się nie zainteresowała tym filmem.

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: Nastasia, Japan, Osaka, Tokyo, Poland, Warsaw, Tamasaburo Bando

Duration: 1 minute, 30 seconds

Date story recorded: August 2003

Date story went live: 24 January 2008