Andrzej Wajda quotes

Andrzej Wajda was a renowned Polish film and theatre director, recognized as one of the most important figures in world cinema. His work often explored the complexities of Polish history and society through powerful narratives and striking visuals. He received numerous awards throughout his career and remains an influential voice in cinematic storytelling. Here are 32 of his quotes:

Nevertheless, in the theatre, and in the cinema, the contemporary reality of Poland has been represented only to a minuscule degree in the last 12 years.

Andrzej Wajda

There is no filmmaking legislation because distributors are not interested in sharing their money with the film industry - for instance, by giving a percentage of ticket sales back to filmmakers.

Andrzej Wajda

Cinemas gained new young audiences who wanted films made for them.

Andrzej Wajda

One might have thought that the most significant change in the film industry that would come about with a transition from the communist economy to capitalism would fundamentally concern the sources of funding.

Andrzej Wajda

Language also encodes our past. We want to know who we are. To know who we are, we have to know who we used to be. Consequently, our literature, written in the past, anchors us in that past.

Andrzej Wajda

When a film is created, it is created in a language, which is not only about words, but also the way that very language encodes our perception of the world, our understanding of it.

Andrzej Wajda

It turned out that the country was helpless in the face of a new reality.

Andrzej Wajda

However, that old mode of Polish filmmaking virtually disappeared.

Andrzej Wajda

At the same time, television theatre became more visibly active.

Andrzej Wajda

We expected that people were just waiting for the collapse of the Soviet Union, or at least for its retreat, and they were going to be full of initiative in all areas of life - in culture, in economy and in politics.

Andrzej Wajda

It was progressively more difficult to find work in the theatre, as well.

Andrzej Wajda

The difficulty of writing a good theatre play set in new reality was even greater given that the level of similitude to life that is allowed in a film would not work on the stage.

Andrzej Wajda

Previously the same Polish audiences would have been pressured into seeing cinema made for adults, films made by us about those spheres of life that were significant for us and which should be significant for our society.

Andrzej Wajda

In the first years after the systemic transition, our screens showed American entertainment that had not been available before, or had been available only sporadically.

Andrzej Wajda

Also a great part of Polish industry proved to have existed only to support the Soviet military industry, and it became superfluous and incapable of being transformed into anything else. We did not foresee that or the magnitude of these phenomena.

Andrzej Wajda

On the one hand, young theatre directors were coming to television theatre, because they wanted to get closer to the cinema, despite having studied and worked for the theatre.

Andrzej Wajda

The difficulty with the present state of affairs is that there is no legislation on the sources of funding for the Polish film industry. There is no legislation concerning filmmaking. And, there is no legislation on television that would be beneficial to filmmaking.

Andrzej Wajda

A novelty in Polish filmmaking was that it was possible to find funds for a big production. However, at the same time, the state budget committed less and less money to filmmaking.

Andrzej Wajda

Television theatre, as is implied in its name, should rely on adaptations of scripts written for the theatre.

Andrzej Wajda

In Europe, there is no television filmmaking legislation that could assist film production because private broadcasters are not interested in supporting Polish film.

Andrzej Wajda

In the same period, Polish literature also underwent some significant changes. From social-political literature, which had a great tradition and strong motivation to be that way, Polish literature changed its focus to a psychological rather than a social one.

Andrzej Wajda

Why does there exist a global American entertainment industry, but there isn't an equivalent coming from France or Italy? This is the case simply because the English language opens the whole world to the American cinema.

Andrzej Wajda