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Western interest in Polish films during the Cold War

RELATED STORIES

Holy Week
Andrzej Wajda Film-maker
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Jeszcze jeden temat był w remanencie moich dawnych planów. Kiedy pracowaliśmy z Jerzym Andrzejewskim i planowaliśmy najrozmaitsze filmy, wśród wielu jego utworów było opowiadanie Wielki tydzieńWielki tydzień jest relacją zupełnie zdumiewającą z powstania, z pierwszych dni powstania w gettcie warszawskim. W pamiętnikach Jarosława Iwaszkiewicza, który jest autorem BrzezinyPanien z Wilka jest opisany dzień w czasie wojny, właśnie niedługo po tym jak się zakończyło powstanie w gettcie warszawskim, że Jerzy Andrzejewski zaprasza ich do swojego domu, kilku pisarzy – w czasie okupacji był taki zwyczaj – i czyta – ponieważ nie można było nic wydrukować, nie istnialy w ogóle wydawnictwa książkowe – Jerzy Andrzejewski przeczytał im opowiadanie Wielki tydzień. No i zdziwienie Iwaszkiewicza, że jak można pisać coś, co się dzieje za oknem, że tu dymy płonącego getta, tam giną ludzie, a on już pisze o tym opowiadanie. No ale to powoduje, że to opowiadanie ma wielką przewagę nad wszystkim, co powstało później, dlatego że dopiero po wojnie, rozmiar, że tak powiem, Holocaustu się ujawnił, no i wszystko to, co było napisane po tym... po uświadomieniu sobie tego faktu było już... było już, jakby to powiedzieć, obciążone tym strasznym poczuciem tej... tej ostatecznej zagłady. Natomiast Jerzy Andrzejewski opisał życie tej kamienicy, tego miejsca, gdzie mieszkał, tak jak ono wyglądało, dialogi tych ludzi, co oni o tym myślą, co się dzieje i takiej relacji drugiej w literaturze nie ma. Pomyślałem, żeby zrobić taki film, no i znalazłem producenta. Lew Rywin chciał ze mną ten film robić. Myślę, że film został dobrze zrobiony, zagrany bardzo wyraziście. Wszystko to, co chciałem osiągnąć w tym filmie, osiągnęłem. No ale film nie osiągnął tego, co ja się spodziewałem. Znowu nie natrafił na widownię, ani w kinie, ani reakcja tego filmu w telewizji nie dała mi żadnej satysfakcji i film nie wyszedł też na świat, bo już nikt nie oczekiwał polskich filmów.

There was one more topic remaining among the stock of my earlier plans. When I was working with Jerzy Andrzejewski and we were planning all kinds of films, there was one story among the many he'd written, entitled Holy Week. Holy Week is an astonishing account of the uprising, of the first days of the uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto. The diaries of Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, who was the author of Birchwood and Young Girls of Wilko, contain a description of a day during the war not long after the uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto had ended. Jerzy Andrzejewski had invited several authors to his house to read to them - during the occupation, there was this custom because nothing could be printed since publishing houses didn't exist at all. Jerzy Andrzejewski read them the story, Holy Week. Iwaszkiewicz was amazed - how could he write about something that was happening right outside his window where the smoke was still rising from the burning ghetto, people were dying, and he's already writing a story about it all? Yet this is what gave the story such an advantage over other stories that came later because it was only once the war was over that the scale of the Holocaust became apparent, and so everything that was written after people had realised what had happened was, so to speak, weighed down by this awful feeling of ultimate extermination. Jerzy Andrzejewski, on the other hand, described life in the very tenement, the very place where he was living as it was, the conversations of those people, what they were thinking, what was happening; there is no other account like it in literature. I thought it would be good to make a film like this and I found a producer. Lew Rywin wanted to make this film with me. I think it was well made and acted very vividly. Everything I wanted to achieve in this film I did achieve, but the film didn't achieve what I'd expected of it. Again, it didn't find an audience in the cinema, nor did the reaction to this film on TV give me any satisfaction and so the film didn't go out into the world because no one was waiting for Polish films any more.

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: Holy Week, Warsaw Ghetto, Birchwood, Young Girls of Wilko, Holocaust, Jerzy Andrzejewski, Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, Lew Rywin

Duration: 3 minutes

Date story recorded: August 2003

Date story went live: 24 January 2008