Andrzej Wajda - How to make a film in Poland in the '60s (122/222)

To listen to more of Andrzej Wajda’s stories, go to the playlist:    • Andrzej Wajda (Film director)  

Polish film director Andrzej Wajda (1926-2016), whose début films portrayed the horror of the German occupation of Poland, won awards at Cannes which established his reputation as storyteller and commentator on Polish history. He also served on the national Senate from 1989-91. [Listener: Jacek Petrycki]

TRANSCRIPT: What makes real cinema? It's not, especially not in Poland, that you have a fantastic idea and everyone contributes something to it: money, because it's a fantastic film - because I've already made 30 films, 20, so let him make another one, and they bring you the best because they understand that it's a fantastic idea. No. Here in Poland, to make a film you need to have a happy coincidence, with all of these things converging. What good is to me if I've read a beautiful book set, for example, in the Middle Ages? Where could I create a world of the Middle Ages? I'd have to go to France where places like that exist. Initially, 'Danton' was supposed to be made in Poland but, providentially, this never happened. It was my greatest triumph that I didn't make 'Danton' in Poland because during martial law, it seemed that even three people gathering together already constituted a crowd. Well, for the crowd scenes in 'Danton' we needed to show more than three people so everything quickly came to an end, we weren't able to make the film in Poland so we went to Paris, thanks to which 'Danton' was made in its real setting. What would that film have looked like if it had been made in Poland? Therefore, one thing is linked to another. How could I have constructed those huge sets in rooms? He passes from one to the other and you can see the momentum which... when the film was shown in Hollywood, because it had been put forward for an Oscar nomination, the producers, directors couldn't get over their amazement. What was your budget? How much did this film cost? Because everyone thought this was a copy, sets that had been constructed especially for the film. When I mumbled that it's all real, they couldn't believe it because people don't work in these 19th century factories any more, not a single worker. 19th century factories don't exist any longer, it's not economical, they've all been refurbished therefore this kind of film can't be made anywhere else except in Łódź. So this was exciting, apart from what I'd said that I wanted to make a film about freedom and the responsibility of decisions. None of us could imagine that: such young people thinking about setting up a factory... in our system it's hard to imagine a more surreal situation. Yet it symbolised freedom. And I tried to show this freedom and those who were opposed to it, who had other interests. Showing the interplay on screen of these interests, the determination, passions. I couldn't have found this in another Polish book nor shown it in any other film. So here was a wonderful meeting of ideas with the possibility to fulfill them.