Andrzej Wajda - First impressions of the film school in Łódź (28/222)

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: At first, the school itself didn't fill me with delight. Firstly, because it was very political and I had learned to be more cautious in this matter. I didn't involve myself too much in the life of the school which was expressed even in Łódź , because students gave their own lectures. I remember Andrzej Munk giving a lecture on 'Will colour film catch on?' in a very convincing and novel way. The subject of colour film was an issue for us. We only ever watched colour films, no one made them, but would colour film catch on? I remember that Andrzej Munk first gave a speech from one side of the table, a fiery speech against, saying it was pointless because it was only an imitation. The more cinema tended towards imitation, we would have olfactory cinema - misfortune. And he convinced us completely that there was no future for colour film. Then, he went to the other side of the table and gave a fiery, rousing speech in favour of colour film saying that whether we like it or not, colour film will prevail and remain. These kinds of intellectual games strongly reminded me of our talks at the School of fine Arts in Kraków even though they were less common at film school and the political passions were stronger. What was immediately apparently here was the activity of the basic party organisation, which was something we had not felt at all at the School of Fine Arts.