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Ashes and Diamonds at the Venice Film Festival

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Premiere of Ashes and Diamonds
Andrzej Wajda Film-maker
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The premiere was held in the Moskwa cinema. My phone rang in the afternoon at around 4:00, 5:00 and the film premiere was being held at 7:00 pm. Someone introduced himself to me as the censor, giving me his censor's number because he didn't have a name just a number; it was like this in the radio, too. In the radio, they all shared the same canteen but they didn't know who they were sitting there with because the censors went upstairs, gave their number and talked with the same authors with whom a moment ago they had been sitting in the same canteen. He gave me his number and said, 'It's been decided that you need to go to the cinema and remove the death on the rubbish dump from the last scene.' Well. I have to say that by then I had more confidence because I already knew one thing: that if I held out this evening, then the die will have been cast since at that time, once a film had been put on general release, that meant it had the seal of approval of the authorities. The authorities had passed the film which meant nothing more could be changed in it, one way or the other. The authorities had passed the film allowing it to be shown nationwide. So I didn't go to the cinema and I didn't cut that scene and I took no steps in the matter. I pretended that there was no such phone call. It's amazing, I don't know whose initiative it had been, maybe the censor himself had acted alone, but from then on no one ever bothered me about this again. Nothing more was ever said about this which led me to understand that this had been a test, that maybe someone had rung him and told him to pass the message on. In any case, I didn't cut that scene, it remained and since it remained and was passed at the premiere that night, I knew that the film would stay as it was and that nothing more in it would change.

Premiera była w kinie Moskwa, zadzwonił do mnie telefon po południu, tak gdzieś koło godziny czwartej, piątej, a o dziewiętnastej była premiera i powiedział do mnie człowiek, który się podał za cenzora, podał swój numer cenzora, bo nie miał nazwiska cenzor, tylko miał numer, tak było też w radio. Oni w radio siedzieli w tej samej kawiarni, ale nie wiedzieli z kim siedzą, bo ci cenzorzy szli na górę, podawali swój numer i rozmawiali z tymi autorami, którzy przed chwilą siedzieli z nimi w tej samej kawiarni. Więc on podał mi swój numer i powiedział tak: 'Proszę Pana, jest decyzja, żeby Pan poszedł do kina i z ostatniej sceny wyciął śmierć na śmietniku'. No. Ale ja muszę powiedzieć, że ja już wtedy byłem pewny siebie. Pewny siebie byłem dlatego, że już wiedziałem jedną rzecz, że jeżeli ja przetrzymam ten wieczór, to już klamka zapadła. Dlatego, że wtedy tak było, że jak film się pokazuje w kinie, to dostaje pieczęć władzy. Władza puściła film, czyli już nic w nim nie można zmieniać ani w tą, ani w tamtą stronę. No i tylko jak mówię, władza puściła film, żeby go pokazać w kraju. I nie poszedłem do kina, nie wyciąłem tej sceny, nie zrobiłem żadnego kroku w tej sprawie. Udawałem, że nie ma takiego telefonu. Jest zdumiewające, że nie wiem czyja to była inicjatywa, może samego tego cenzora, w ogóle dalej nigdy już nikt mnie w tej sprawie nie zaczepił. Nigdy już nie było na ten temat rozmowy, z czego zrozumiałem, że prawdopodobnie wystraszyłem... jakaś indywidualna to była próba, żeby może ktoś do niego zadzwonił i powiedział, żeby on, że tak powiem, przekazał tę sprawę dalej. W każdym bądź razie nie wyciąłem tej sceny, zostało, a jak zostało i przeszło na premierze tego wieczoru. No to już wiedziałem, że film zostanie w tym kształcie, już się nic w nim nie odmieni.

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: Ashes and Diamonds

Duration: 2 minutes, 45 seconds

Date story recorded: August 2003

Date story went live: 24 January 2008