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 On the eve of the 10th anniversary*
of the Wajda School, FNE speaks exclusively with founder Andrzej
Wajda. The Wajda School starts to celebrate its first decade with a
special Guests Meet Guests event at IDFA, Amsterdam on 19 November
2011. Whereas the production of Wajda Studio Paparazzi screens
as Dutch premiere in the IDFA Competition for Student Documentary.
1.What
was the idea behind establishing the School?
After
the events of 1989, it was clear that there was a need for a new type
of film school. Together with Wojciech Marczewski, I
understood how the film schools located in Lodz and Katowice really
functioned. We both were students in Lodz and went on to teach in
these two schools later in our careers. Before the system
changed, the real schools for film professionals were the so called
"Film Groups". These were places where the film school graduates
could gather and could develop their skills with the help of their
older colleagues who received the same education. It was a community
that had its origins in the film schools and had its extension in the
film groups.
2 What change
occurred after 1989?
The film
groups lost their crucial role in 1989, mainly because of the
emergence of private producers in the Polish film industry. After a
few years, it became evident that young film directors needed support
and a sort of protection against those who call themselves film
producers, even though they don't have any knowledge about cinema or
any qualifications. This caused delay between the director's
graduation from film school and the film maker's debut. First films
were made much later and were in fact works of mature directors,
while the biggest strength of a debut is that it is an expression of
youth. We thought that there is a need for a place where a person
that had just finished film school could come with their first
project and talk to experienced filmmakers about it. There was also a
need for an environment where a young filmmaker could be with the
people of his generation, who have similar goals. Our school is the
only place where people who want to make their first film can meet
with those who want to help them in this process.
3.
How did your School begin?
 The
situation wasn't right to launch the school immediately after 1989.
We saw what was happening with the Polish film industry, but a couple
years had to pass, so that the Polish cinematography could change
into something new and different. What? That is the answer we are
trying to find. From the beginning we wanted to produce not
only to the feature productions, but also the documentary films,
because documentaries give the fastest answer to the most
contemporary questions. Because I was making my own films and I
didn't have the means to finance the whole endeavor, it was
only possible to establish the school after Ryszard Krauze decided to
finance it for the first five years. It's thanks to him, that the
school was established in an independent form, shaped only with our
judgment on the current situation in Polish cinema and our need to
participate in it. We didn't want it to be a state school for one
simple reason - we didn't want anyone to force their programme on
us. Of course there was also the issue of interacting with directors
from other European countries, as one of the biggest achievements of
the changes that took place in 1989 was that we now could join freely
with the whole Europe. We wanted our students to have the possibility
to meet with young filmmakers from France, England, Switzerland,
Germany, Denmark and Sweden - in short all of those, who create the
new European cinema, as our students will in the future. This was
made possible thanks to the long term contacts made by Wojciech
Marczewski while he was working at numerous European film
schools.
4. Is the need for this
type of programme for young filmmakers a question that concerns only
the Poland, or is it an issue that is characteristic for the whole
Central and Eastern Europe region?
I
was interested in the fact that Poland is situated between Western
Europe on one side and the former USSR including Russia, the Ukraine,
Belarus and Lithuania on the other. We wanted our School to be the
meeting place for both worlds and for us to be a platform that
connects Europe - I think that this is our role. One year, when we
had both Alexander Sokurov and Volker Schlöndorff
as tutors at our school, I thought that this is exactly what we were
working for. We wanted our students to see both the unpredictable
imagination and Russian passion of Sokurov and at the same time the
realism represented by Schlöndorff and this is the direction that we
are going in.
5. What is the
model of education at your School and how does it differ from the
state schools?
We are meeting
with the students once they have a plan and are ready to start their
first project. The programs last one year and during that time the
students work on their first script and film. They prepare continuous
versions, make their first shoots and look for a producer - this is
what their year consists of. The foreign students make four
trips here. Their first stay usually lasts ten days, during which
time we discuss the script and develop it in such a way that they can
continue working on it on their own. We organize a trailer shoot with
actors - who often come along with the filmmakers - in the
language in which the film will be made. This gives the
filmmakers a fragment of the film that they can show to potential
producers. We have three groups of students: young Polish filmmakers;
foreign students in which we would very much like to include people
from eastern Europe; and the "Film Kindergarten", a group of high
school students who want to develop their interest in film. Recently
we decided to also organize a new type of program for creative
producers. These are the producers with an extensive knowledge of
film, who want to get to know us and our students who they are going
to be working with in the future. It is also significant that we
reach out not only to film school graduates. We have students who are
theatre directors or writers, who want to get closer to film. We are
looking for people who have experience or have finished some other
type of studies, want to explore cinema more closely and think that
this process will be accelerated if they join us.
6.What
is the level of your engagement with the School?
I
am not working as much at the school as I maybe should, because of
the fact that I am constantly making my own films and I can't stop
doing that - it's my life. The most important this is that I
established this school. I didn't really see else anyone who could
have done it. The person who is constantly present at the school is
Wojciech Marczewski, who is an excellent pedagogue with experience
gained at several European film schools. From the beginning we both
thought that it would be best if he had the possibility to work with
our youth and not travel abroad to teach. He has the decision making
power at the school, also when it comes to choosing the workers and
co-workers. Most of the initiatives that I mentioned before are based
on his ideas. For example I would have never thought about opening
the school to producers, but he is observing developments in the film
industry and he saw a need for creating a group of creative producers
within our cinematography.
7.
Recently, the school had entered the field of film production with
the establishment of the Wajda Studio. What was the reason behind
this and what are the first results?
 During
the last Polish Film Festival in Gdynia four out of the twelve films
in the Main Competition were developed at our school. That means that
one third of the best Polish production was made with our
participation! It proves that the amount of work put into script
development is visible in the quality and the success of the finished
film.We want to have a bigger part in that and produce projects from
start till the end. This was the case with a film by an Irish
director Norah McGettingan, who came to us a couple of years ago to
develop her script as part of the EKRAN program and recently came
back with a proposition to co-produce with Ireland. As a result of
that, a shoot had wrapped in September for a film entitled Sanctuary
- a first production of WAJDA STUDIO. The film will enter cinemas
next year, distributed by Best Film.
8.
Looking back on the last 10 years of the School, what are you most
proud of?
I'm very proud that
the school managed to stay active for the past 10 years, despite a
number of difficulties. This type of creations don't always have to
exist. Several films that have been very successful in the Polish
market in the last decade have been developed at our school and with
our support. We also created several brilliant documentary films that
were recognized at international film festivals and praised by both
the critics and the audience. This is most gratifying as there is no
other studio in Poland that could have made these films. One of our
biggest successes is also that filmmakers such as Wojciech Marczewski
and Marcel Łoziński or Jacek Bławut can lead this school and meet
with the students as teachers, to help them make their debuts.
9.
What are your the plans for the School in the next 10 years?
It
is very important for me that students from Russia, Ukraine or
Belarus come to our school. The meeting of the young filmmakers from
the Western and Eastern Europe cannot take place anywhere else -
not even during international film festivals where there isn't enough
time. If they would attend our courses together for two or
three weeks they would have the chance to get to know each other and
start a friendship. I will do everything in my power to make that
happen. I think that with the democracy development in Eastern
Europe, there will be funds for young filmmakers to travel. Then we
will witness a natural osmosis, a fusion of East and West - and
this is my plan for this school.
*This year, more events in the
frame of Wajda School's 10th anniversary are planned at
PlusCamerimage, Bydgoszcz (26.11 - 3.12) and within Wajda's
retrospective in Berlin (2.12 - 30.12). More: www.wajdaschool.pl .
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