Poland’s veteran director, Andrzej Wajda, has said his plans to make a film about Solidarity legend Lech Wałęsa are taking shape.

A script, by the prominent Polish writer Janusz Głowacki, is currently in preparation. The film is to be entitled We, the Polish People, a reference to ‘We, the People’, the opening words of Wałęsa’s historic speech to the US Congress in November 1989.

The film is to focus on Wałęsa’s unique personality. “I’d like to show how it was possible for an ordinary worker to become a leader and national hero,” Wajda said, adding that his film will not pass over the accusations of Wałęsa’s alleged collaboration with the communist secret services.

“It has not been decided yet who will play Wałęsa but he himself will appear in the film,” the director said.

Wajda spoke to journalists about his new project after a ceremony in Warsaw during which he received an honorary doctorate from the Academy of Fine Arts in Minsk, the capital of Belarus. Its Rector, Michail Grigorovich Barazna, said that for the young people in Belarus Wajda is a model of moral values and hard work, while his films are highly valued for their universal humanistic message. (mk)