I think she would not like this article to be published – she was extremely modest, despite the talent, hard work and tremendous achievements that she had. Always somewhere in the background, but at the same time concentrated and worried that everything would came out as best. Probably she would suggest to devote this place and time to John Paul II and the films she had dedicated to him. But I feel a “duty” towards her and shall devote at least a few words just to her, recalling a few crumbs of memories that show what kind of person she was – a wise, good and very sensitive. Just perhaps a little underestimated…
I was lucky to know her through Sr. Serafia Pajerska, a sister of the Sacred Heart, who told me about Tamara Jakżyna’s stay in Kraków, and suggested that it could be a chance for me to talk with her. I interviewed her about her film Nie bój się! Modlę się za Ciebie (Do Not Be Afraid! I Am Praying for You). I remember our first meeting – I was afraid, not knowing how much we can understand each other, whether the language barrier would let us talk freely about the film and about the person of John Paul II, his message and philosophy… We arranged encounter before St. Mary’s Church. We sat down over coffee and… the stress went away. A fascination with John Paul II united us. I wrote a thesis entitled Poetics of Drama in Karol Wojtyła’s Plays (Poetyka dramatu Karola Wojtyły), so – I think I may say so – we developed a great touch. The interview was so long and interesting, that it was difficult to give up anything. It did not fit in one issue, and therefore it was published whole but in two parts. It appeared on the pages of “Czas Serca” (“Time of the Heart”) (you can read it at: http://prasa.wiara.pl/doc/458762.Nie-boj-sie-Modle-sie-za-ciebie ). We became friends, to some extent. Whenever she was in Kraków, she let me know it. I talked to her by telephone in last January and February. Unfortunately, when Tamara was the last time in Kraków, in February, we were unable to meet. She stayed briefly in Nowa Huta, and had a tight schedule, so we had to postpone our meeting until later…
Always Focusing on John Paul II
The last time I saw her it was last year, when she invited me to watch her film about Socrates Starynkiewicz, presented in the Żaczek Club… She appreciated what was given her by her work – she could learn unusual biographies, and then thoroughly investigate, analyze and represent them. However, the most important of her work are two films devoted to John Paul II. She enjoyed them, though, they cost her a lot. I remember how she talked about the great amount of work she had to do to prepare them (performing in the same time multiple functions, including those that had little in common with the work of a director). As a result, she struggled with serious financial problems. Sometimes, when she no longer had the strength to fight, she left it to John Paul II – letting him to take care of the funds. And help came quickly – she believed it was because of his contribution. She was extremely determined to fight for the realization of the films. I remember, when she talked how once she could not get materials from a decision maker, and saying good-bye to him she said: “If I have to draw it, I shall make this film”. This ultimately captivated the interlocutor, so he decided to help her.
While working on the film and collecting materials in Rome and the Vatican, she enjoyed the hospitality of the Polish House at Via Cassia, what she always recalled with great gratitude. Besides, she was very grateful for any assistance – she thanked in the film credits everyone who supported her work on the film Nie bój się! Modlę się za Ciebie (Do Not Be Afraid! I Am Praying for You).
Also her perseverance made a great impression on me. I remember her telling me that when the fire was consuming Moscow, she could not leave the city because she had a lot of work, chased by deadlines for the film. The air was heavy, so she was working wrapped in wet blankets, lying on the floor. She was accompanied by her cats, and felt sorry that they had to endure these difficult conditions.
Wojtyła as Man
There is talk of unrequited love of John Paul II to Russia. She tried to compensate him for this, making films about him, based on solid research, carefully collected materials, thoroughly selected interlocutors, showing Wojtyła, as a human, and humanistic values that he preached. She also translated Kwiatki Jana Pawła II (The Flowers of John Paul II) on the Russian language, which pleased her very much because she valued his thought, language, message, but also a sense of humor.
After making her first film about John Paul II, she said that she needed to rest. But it did not last long – soon she began to open up contacts with persons close to John Paul to prepare the second film – Papież, który nie umarł (Pope Who Did Not Die). Again, it cost her a lot. She also paid for it with her health, having more and more problems with it. But I guess, she could not, or did not want to rest: she was constantly chased and hurried up by something, as if she felt that she had little time and so much to say and do. She took a lot of work and carried out different contracts to collect money and complete the film about John Paul, which she was making on the basis of her own resources. Actually, I have the impression, that meeting with thought and message of John Paul II was the most important encounter of her life. She devoted her time and energies to work on the films, and then to their distribution. Such were the last years of her life… Working on the films cost her so much, because she put her whole heart in it, but on the other hand it gave her incredible satisfaction. When the Russian television wanted to show her film about John Paul II, but in a shortened version, she did not agree, because for her, selection had been already made, she had had to reduce materials, so if a word or a frame found themselves in the film, it meant they were really important.
Good, Modest and Sensitive
The news about her death came unexpectedly. I read it in a tram on the monitor, a bit of “unthinkingly”, out of boredom, looking at the displayed information that… the body of missing Tamara Jakżyna was found. I did not even know she was missing. I could not believe it. I could not also read off well the information: whether it was “a director from Moscow” or “found in Moscow”.
Most probably she was murdered on 12 March. The news about her death, when her body was found, was reported in the meaningful moment – during an evening dedicated to poetry of Karol Wojtyła, which took place as part of meetings on poetry and literature organized in the Library. Some noted Russian translators of the Karol Wojtyła’s literary works as Andrei Bazylevskiy and Igor Baranov took part in this meeting, and also Yevgeniy Rashkovskiy – a director of the research centre of religious literature at the Library. Rashkovskiy and Bazylevskiy recited their translations of the Wojtyła’s poems, that were so valued by Tamara. It was Igor Baranov who, with great pain, told the meeting participants about the death of Tamara Jakżyna. He, together with her, made the first part of the film about John Paul II Nie bój się! Modlę się za ciebie (Do Not Be Afraid! I Am Praying for You). Every death comes too soon, because so many words have not been spoken, so many things have not been completed, there are so many suddenly interrupted plans, so many things broken in the course of their implementation…
Tamara’s departure hurts in a special way, because it is difficult to come to terms with the fact that in such way so good and sensitive person have died. The person who spoke with such passion about man, believing in his goodness, and one who put so much heart in making the world a little bit friendlier place to live… She believed in human, culture and art. Although she has already crossed the threshold of hope, she has left a legacy of her work, embracing the heritage left us by John Paul II. After his death, she said that he had left us his thought, so we had something to work on, something to research about. Thanks to her commitment we have documentary films, made with precision and with an artistic feature, that help commemorate the pontificate of John Paul II and, presenting his human message and values, bring closer his person to people around the world, not only to the Catholics.
Tamara Elizabeth Jakżyna – a Russian of Polish origin (hence her middle name as she once explained), a director of documentaries and television screenwriter… She loved what she was doing. A graduate of the Institute of Television – she studied at the Faculty of Journalism at the Lomonosov Moscow State University, where she chose the specialization “a literary assistant in television and radio, a journalist” (her thesis topic: The Polish Television Theatre). She also completed postgraduate studies (directing and set design).
Her entire professional life was related to the arts – theater, film and music. For over twenty years she worked in the public television in Moscow, in the music department (she received secondary education in music) and in the Artistical Joint “Ekran”. Apart from the impressive number of artistic programs, which she made, she was also an author of cycles: Music in the Theater, Cinema and Television, and Music and Poetry. In 1990 she accepted a proposal for work in the Studio of Documentary and Popular Science Films “Vozrozhdeniye”. She made there a number of films that were purchased by Russian as well as by foreign TV stations. In 1993 she started working in the studio “Music and Film” (as an artistic director). On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of cinema – on request of the Russian Television – she prepared programs for TV series World Cinema Directors (including: Visconti, Fassbinder and Chabrol). She collaborated with the Russian Film Symphony Orchestra, directing a cycle Live Music of the Screen.
She wrote many articles about music, work of film music composers and condition of the contemporary documentary cinema. She conducted meetings presenting documentary films in one of the youth centers in Moscow. Much of the time she spent promoting Polish culture in Russia (including films), conducting interviews with Polish directors, musicians, writers and translators into Russian language. She was an editor-curator of the department “Poland” of the International Literary, Artistic and Cultural Magazine “Mecenat i Mir” (“Patronage and the World”). Systematically, once a month in the House of Cinema in Moscow she led the Polish Film Club, where young filmmakers and students of artistic academies could see the best Polish films.
Sylwia Palka