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NEXT STORY

Ideology in A Generation

RELATED STORIES

Farewell, film school
Andrzej Wajda Film-maker
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The day I ended the academic part of my studies and on which Aleksander Ford gave me the job of making the film A Generation, was the day on which I parted company with the school after which I never went back there. Twice I allowed myself to be talked back into returning to teach; once, I taught Marek Piwowski and the class he attended for a few months. Then I tried again. No! To the point where I didn't want to do my diploma in that school, but suggested instead that they should consider A Generation as my diploma which the school did very unwillingly after a long time. I was very glad to leave Łódź and just as glad to be leaving the film school. I began to live independently. In the meantime - and this was very important - by another happy coincidence, I was able to start making films as soon as I had left film school. This was the deciding factor because if, as often happens these days to young people that they are unable to make films for the first, second, third year, I don't know if I wouldn't have started searching for something else to do. I didn't have too many options because I didn't have much of an education, my artisic training was limited to painting, so what could I have been? Writing - no - I would never have taken up writing because at the School of Fine Arts, there was a principle that only those who couldn't paint would write, because if someone couldn't paint, they had to write in order to explain what their painting represented. So I had a sincere aversion towards writing, which was in accordance with the spirit of the School of Fine Arts and of the painters who studied there. So what could I have been? I don't know, but luck was on my side again and as I've said before, it's hard to be a good film director without luck, very hard. The film, A Generation appeared in my sights.

Dzień w którym zakończyłem moje zajęcia szkolne i w którym Aleksander Ford dał mi do roboty film Pokolenie był moim pożegnaniem ze szkołą i nigdy już tam nie wszedłem. Dałem się skusić dwa razy, żeby uczyć; raz uczyłem Marka Piwowskiego i tę klasę, do której on chodził, przez parę miesięcy. Potem drugi raz jeszcze próbowałem. Nie! Do tego stopnia, że nawet nie chciałem robić w szkole dyplomu tylko zaproponowałem, żeby szkoła zaliczyła mi film Pokolenie jako dyplom, co szkoła zrobiła bardzo niechętnie po długim dopiero czasie. Tak że rozstałem się z wielką radością z Łodzią i z wielką radością rozstałem się ze Szkołą Filmową. I po prostu zaczęłem samodzielne... zaczęłem samodzielne życie, no ale w międzyczasie to, co było szalenie istotne, że znowu szczęśliwym zbiegiem okoliczności tuż po ukończeniu szkoły mogłem zacząć robić film. To zadecydowało... bo gdyby się okazało, tak jak teraz się zdarza często, że młodzi ludzie nie mogą zrobić filmu pierwszy, drugi, trzeci rok... nie wiem, czy nie szukałbym dla siebie jeszcze jakiegoś innego... Miałem niewiele możliwości, bo bez wykształcenia – moje wykształcenie było żadne, moje wykształcenie artystyczne mogło być tylko wykształceniem plastycznym – kim mogłem być? Do pisania... nie, do pisania nigdy bym się nie brał, dlatego że była taka święta zasada w Akademii Sztuk Pięknych, że tylko ten, co nie umie malować, musi pisać, no bo jak nie umie namalować, no to musi napisać o co mu chodzi w tym obrazie, który namalował. Więc do pisania wstręt miałem szczery, bo zgodny z duchem Akademii Sztuk Pięknych i malarzy, którzy w niej studiowali. Także kim mogłem być? Nie wiem, nie zdaję sobie sprawy... ale znowu szczęście wyszło mi naprzeciw, bo jak mówię, bez szczęścia jest bardzo trudno być reżyserem filmowym, bardzo trudno. No i pojawił się na moim horyzoncie... pojawił się film... możliwość zrobienia filmu Pokolenie.

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: A Generation, School of Fine Arts, Aleksander Ford, Marek Piwowski

Duration: 2 minutes, 35 seconds

Date story recorded: August 2003

Date story went live: 24 January 2008