The article was based on letters preserved in the Andrzej Wajda Archive, containing proposals of assorted scenarios, themes and problems which the authors of the correspondence wished to bring to his attention. The first letter comes from 1958, and the last one - from this year. In view of the fact that it is simply impossible to discuss the whole collection in a brief article, the authoress selected examples from 1958-89. The year 1989 - a time of great changes in the life of Poland and the Poles - comprises a caesura involving a systemic transformation, an end to censorship, an opening onto the world, and new social problems, all vividly reflected in letters addressed to Andrzej Wajda. Archival folios entitled Proposals contain 168 letters from the examined period. The article intends to show the manner in which the Polish 'average spectator' perceived Andrzej Wajda as an artist, a Pole and a person. The choice of the featured proposals omits men of letters and professional authors of screenplays, both Polish and foreign.
While attending film courses Andrzej Wajda did not foresee himself as a director of feature films but considered the grotesque cinema and educational movies. The authoress recalls the director's notes from 1948, made during his stay in Ilza, which he then used for his first documentary film 'Ceramika ilzecka' (Pottery from Ilza, 1951). She also recalls a list made by Wajda in 1952, entitled 'Projekty filmów dokumentalnych' (Projects of documentary films), containing 19 titles with several ethnographic projects.
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