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 .
