How this site was created

The idea of making an Andrzej Wajda website was born at the moment when we heard that the director had been honoured with the American Film Academy Award. In September of last year we had already created a website named www.pantadeusz.com

Our intention was to give a most general and comprehensive presentation of the director's creative achievements as well as of his personal fascinations. Only as we were collecting the materials were we able to realize - as we hope our site guests will also realize - the sheer size and quality of Andrzej Wajda's creative accomplishments, as well as his titanic devotion to work and the huge scale of his interests.

From the very beginning we were certain that the project must be implemented in two language versions. We wanted the English version to be of use to all those, who on hearing the news about the Oscar for the Polish director, would wish to obtain more information.

Our subject himself accepted our project with satisfaction, albeit tinged with some scepticism, resulting from his distrust of multimedia and the Internet. This made our work that much more challenging, as we hoped that our project might, perhaps, convert Andrzej Wajda to "clicking". The site is named www.wajda.pl, but it can also be accessed through www.wajda.com, a Wajda family site created by the American Ches Wajda. It was designed in cooperation with Krystyna Zachwatowicz, who turned out to be an expert Internaut, e-mail included. Thanks to her help, and with the invariably sceptical but attentive participation of Andrzej Wajda himself, we were able to make a primary selection of material, which actually determined the basic nature of our site. It is composed of the following blocks of subjects:

About Wajda: chronology of events, supplemented by Wajda's remarks on his birthplace and family, memories of his undergraduate days in the Krak≤w Fine Arts Academy and the Lodz Film School, as well as some of his views on post-1989 Poland.

Films: a list of all feature films directed by Andrzej Wajda, each with his short comment; a selection of reviews; a chapter from his book "Podwojne spojrzenie" [Double Vision] - "The Director's Two Eyes".

Theatre: a list of performances directed by Wajda, including productions for the Polish Television Theatre; review excerpts; a chapter from his book "Podwojne spojrzenie" [Double Vision] - "Why Do I Work in the Theatre?".

Oscar: Steven Spielberg's letter to the members of the American Film Academy (after March 26th - also Wajda's Oscar speech); other awards, prizes, commendations and honoris causa doctorates.

Favourites: reproductions of Wajda's favourite paintings, each with his own comment,

Andrzej Wajda drawings gallery,

Why Japan? - the history of Wajda's fascination with Japanese art; story of the construction of the Krakow Japanese Art and Technology Centre "Manggha", founded by Andrzej Wajda.