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Screening of the film about Pilate in Poland
Andrzej Wajda Film-maker
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I thought to myself that I can't allow this film to disappear completely without giving anyone the opportunity to see it here. I knew that TV would never accept this film, and would never show it out of fear of conflict with the Church. This conflict was always a possibility and the Party was at pains for our films not to contain anything that could aggravate this, whereas this whole film could have given the impression that it was some kind of anti-religious protest. Therefore, there wasn't any chance of it being shown on TV. However, soon after we returned from filming, Jan Kreczmar, the actor who played Pilate, died. Since he hadn't appeared in many films, in fact, this was his only big role, I tried to convince the cinema authorities that perhaps it was possible to show this film in which he acted on screen for the last time, that this was an important role, and that this was a good reason for showing the film. This decision was taken but under the condition, and here we couldn't come to an agreement with ZDF because I wanted to make several copies so that they could circulate around Poland at least in the studio cinemas, because that's what they were known as then; there were small studio cinemas in which the audience had the right to view films that others didn't watch. However, it transpired that ZDF couldn't decide what sort of rights to give me. They knew that Poland wouldn't buy this film and that they would have to give it as a present, but how should they do this, and how many copies should they agree to? In short, they sent me the material and two copies were made. These two copies very quickly found their way into the cinemas. Once they found their way into the cinemas, interest in the film was enormous. Because it's a completely unexpected film. No one in Poland expected such a film to be made and oddly, over the years, I've met people who'd seen this film but in such large numbers that I was amazed at how these two copies could have reached so many cinemas to have been seen by such a large audience. I have to say, that I had great satisfaction from this. The film didn't make it to any festivals. ZDF like every public TV station wasn't interested in anything. Once something had been made, that was it.

Pomyślałem sobie, że nie mogę dopuścić do tego, żeby ten film tak całkowicie zniknął, że tak powiem, żeby nie miał szansy nikt obejrzeć tego filmu tutaj. Wiedziałem, że telewizja w żadnym wypadku polska nie przyjmie tego filmu i nie pokaże go z obawy konfliktu z Kościołem. A ten konflikt zawsze był, że tak powiem, możliwy i partia tutaj bardzo przestrzegała tego, żeby w naszych filmach nie pojawiały się żadne elementy, które by mogły to zadrażnić, no a ten film cały mógł robić takie wrażenie, że to jest film, że tak powiem... no, jakaś manifestacja antyreligijna. W związku z tym nie było żadnych szans, żeby go pokazać w telewizji, ale niedługo po powrocie ze zdjęć zmarł Jan Kreczmar, aktor, który grał Piłata. Ponieważ on nie grał wiele w filmie, a właściwie to była jedyna jego duża rola, więc próbowałem przekonać władze kinematografii, że może istnieje możliwość pokazania tego filmu, w którym on po raz ostatni gra na ekranie, że to jest ważna rola. No i że może to jest, że tak powiem, powód, żebyśmy ten film pokazali.

Zapadła taka decyzja pod warunkiem, że... i tu nie mogliśmy się porozumieć z ZDF-em, dlatego że ja chciałem zrobić kilka kopii, żeby one mogły krążyć po Polsce przynajmniej w kinach studyjnych, bo tak to się wtedy nazywało. Były jeszcze kina studyjne, gdzie mała widownia miała prawo oglądać filmy, których nie oglądają inni. No ale okazało się, że ZDF nie mógł się zdecydować, jakie mi dać prawa. Wiedział, że Polska nie kupi tego filmu i że muszą dać ten film w prezencie, no ale... jak to zrobić, na ile to pozwolić? No, krótko mówiąc, przysłano mi materiały wyjściowe i zostały zrobione dwie kopie. Te dwie kopie bardzo szybko zawędrowały do kin. Jak zawędrowały do kin, to zainteresowanie tym filmem było olbrzymie. No bo to jest film zupełnie niespodziewany, nikt się nie spodziewał w Polsce, że w ogóle taki film może zaistnieć i bardzo dziwne, ale spotykałem potem przez lata ludzi, którzy ten film widzieli i to w takiej ilości, że to dla mnie było zdumiewające, gdzie i jakim sposobem te dwie kopie mogły obsłużyć taką ilość kin, żeby ten film mógł być zobaczony przez taką dużą widownię. No i muszę powiedzieć, że to była moja satysfakcja. Film nie trafił na żaden festiwal. ZDF jak każda telewizja publiczna nie był niczym zainteresowany – jak coś wyprodukował i to już było wszystko, na co go było stać.

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: Poland, ZDF, Pilate, Party, Jan Kreczmar

Duration: 3 minutes, 10 seconds

Date story recorded: August 2003

Date story went live: 24 January 2008