Andrzej Wajda - Personal life (72/222)

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: I think that if I'm talking about 'Kanał' and 'Ashes and Diamonds' I ought to speak about my personal life, not in order to go into unnecessary details but to make a simple observation. Namely, from the first films onwards, my life became systematically subordinated to making films. In fact, no other issues... later, after several years, I began to work in theatre. That was my second great passion but here, I put to one side all personal matters, anything that could have somehow distracted me from the one thing that was becoming the aim of my whole life. Namely, film-making. Perhaps I lost out on many things because of this, perhaps I wasn't attentive enough to other people, to my surroundings but I have to say that cinema absorbed me completely. Later, I tried teaching at the film school in Łódź but, like I've already said, I quickly parted company with the film school after which I wasn't keen on going back there. Besides, the school didn't really need me and my two attempts at teaching there both ended in failure. So education wasn't all that appealing to me although frequently young film directors think that after their first or second film they'll find the time to prepare for their masterpiece, and begin to teach others. I believe that's the wrong direction to take because teaching then becomes a substitute for making films. They don't confront the real problems a film director has to deal with and resolve on a daily basis as part of his work. Instead, they talk about having once been confronted with these problems. Another thing that was of paramount importance - I was unfailingly healthy. It was thanks to this that I was able to make so many films, work in theatre, travel and go abroad. My health was invincible. I think that a film director who isn't well is a disaster for those who work with him because he draws too much attention to himself. Others pay him attention but not as the leader - the one who, come rain or snow or dawn or night-time, is out there shooting, but as the one who's being laid low by illness. And that's wrong. I think the fates have happily allowed me to live to a good age; my first experience of illness was in '99 when I developed a heart condition. I had to undergo an operation, and that was my first contact with a hospital, my first experience of the fact that as the director, I could be absent from matters that directly affected me. I'm talking about this because a very significant thing fell away from me. Namely, I wasn't bothered about myself, with my health, with what I could call my career because it was focused on nothing more than making films. All I cared about was being able to make the next film. I didn't look for any material benefits nor was I trying to prove that since I was making films, I deserved something. I also worked on several projects that came to nothing, like, for example, the story I told about my experience with Hłasko. There were two films that I was to make with him and nothing came of them. With time, there were more and more films like that. I think that among my files, there are perhaps 100, 110 maybe even 120 projects that were never completed. I don't want to be misunderstood. These projects didn't come to nothing because they were blocked by the censors. The majority of these projects couldn't be followed through because they were outside of the programme, they weren't the sort of films that were being made at the time. One important thing needs to be remembered, that on the one hand, as a film director I didn't try to impose successful films like 'Kanał' and 'Ashes and Diamonds', but on the other the authorities also made it clear that this wasn't down to our merit. We allowed you to make 'Ashes and Diamonds' and so you should be grateful to us.