Wajda takes three young entrepreneurs and follows their greed and ambition to toxic capitalism’s logical conclusion in this queasily disturbing satire
Andrzej Wajda’s queasily compelling film from 1975, adapted by him from a novel by Wladysław Reymont, is an expressionist comic opera of toxic capitalism and bad faith, carried out by jittery entrepreneurs whose skills include insider trading, worker-exploitation and burning down failing businesses for the insurance. It is set in late 19th-century Łódź, a supposed promised land of free enterprise, whose night skies are shown by Wajda as more or less permanently red with factories set ablaze.
Our three gruesome heroes are Karol (Daniel Olbrychski) who is a Pole, Maks (Andrzej Seweryn) who is German, and Moryc (Wojciech Pszoniak) who is Jewish; this last being considered in these times effectively a separate nationality, and in fact the uneasy suspicion between these identities creates something a little like the mood in Danzig,...
Andrzej Wajda’s queasily compelling film from 1975, adapted by him from a novel by Wladysław Reymont, is an expressionist comic opera of toxic capitalism and bad faith, carried out by jittery entrepreneurs whose skills include insider trading, worker-exploitation and burning down failing businesses for the insurance. It is set in late 19th-century Łódź, a supposed promised land of free enterprise, whose night skies are shown by Wajda as more or less permanently red with factories set ablaze.
Our three gruesome heroes are Karol (Daniel Olbrychski) who is a Pole, Maks (Andrzej Seweryn) who is German, and Moryc (Wojciech Pszoniak) who is Jewish; this last being considered in these times effectively a separate nationality, and in fact the uneasy suspicion between these identities creates something a little like the mood in Danzig,...
- 4/10/2024
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Drift (Anthony Chen)
Singaporean director Anthony Chen’s English-language debut follows a West African refugee, Jacqueline (Cynthia Erivo), who washes up on a Greek island homeless, cashless, and friendless. She doesn’t speak until ten minutes into Drift, taking in her surroundings, plagued by a fear that’s nestled deep within her. Understandably, she’s scared of everyone and everything, living in a cave, eating whatever she can find, making money by washing tourists’ feet on the beach. – Michael F. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
A Drifting Up (Jacob Lee)
Coming off antidepressants for the first time, young London-based filmmaker Jacob Lee decided to dance his way through it and record the process. This BAFTA-nominated short documentary captures his joyful interactions...
Drift (Anthony Chen)
Singaporean director Anthony Chen’s English-language debut follows a West African refugee, Jacqueline (Cynthia Erivo), who washes up on a Greek island homeless, cashless, and friendless. She doesn’t speak until ten minutes into Drift, taking in her surroundings, plagued by a fear that’s nestled deep within her. Understandably, she’s scared of everyone and everything, living in a cave, eating whatever she can find, making money by washing tourists’ feet on the beach. – Michael F. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
A Drifting Up (Jacob Lee)
Coming off antidepressants for the first time, young London-based filmmaker Jacob Lee decided to dance his way through it and record the process. This BAFTA-nominated short documentary captures his joyful interactions...
- 3/29/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
With Loving Vincent, the directors Dk and Hugh Welchman attempted something that had never been done before: to create and edit together 65,000 oil paintings into a feature-length film. The result—which was the labor of 125 painters and numerous actors over the course of six years—was a unique amalgam of flesh, paint, and animation that earned the duo one of the top prizes at Berlinale as well as an Academy Award nomination. But that painstaking process, didn’t discourage the couple one bit. On the contrary, it inspired them to test the limits of filmmaking once again, as their latest film, The Peasants (which not only entailed the same artistic problems but was also interrupted in production by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine), unquestionably proves. Ahead of the January 26 release, the new trailer for Poland’s Oscar entry has now arrived.
Adapted from Władysław Reymont’s beloved four-volume novel of the same name,...
Adapted from Władysław Reymont’s beloved four-volume novel of the same name,...
- 1/5/2024
- by Oliver Weir
- The Film Stage
"God did not create you to be poor!" Sony Classics has revealed an official US trailer for the hand-painted film The Peasants, an animated story of jealous men and angry villagers. They have been working on this for years, painting every single frame by hand to get it looking perfect. The film tells a heartbreaking story about an early 20th Polish peasant woman who creates havoc when she is forced to marry an older rich man. The epic classic novel of Wladyslaw Reymont has been brought to life using the popular realist and pre-impressionist paintings from the 19th Century, with an emphasis on the Young Poland Movement and the works of such artists as Józef Chełmoński, Ferdynand Ruszczyc and Julian Fałat. It's a follow-up to the first hand-painted film Loving Vincent, which was about Vincent Van Gogh. Every last shot is painted by artists, resulting in thousands of paintings at the end of production.
- 1/4/2024
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Exclusive: Agnieszka Holland’s migrant drama Green Border will open the 22nd Kinoteka Polish Film Festival, running from March 6 to 28 in various locations across London.
The opening gala screening at the BFI Southbank will tie in with the film’s UK release by Modern Films, which kicks off on March 8. The picture previously made its UK premiere at the BFI London Film Festival.
The timely drama explores the migrant crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border from a variety of points of view, from the people stuck in the treacherous natural environment, to activists trying to help them and border guards charged with keeping them out.
The work hit the headlines earlier this year when Holland was attacked by Poland’s far-right government as the film world premiered to acclaim at the Venice Film Festival in September, where it won the Special Jury Prize.
Polish distributor Kino Świat pushed on with the...
The opening gala screening at the BFI Southbank will tie in with the film’s UK release by Modern Films, which kicks off on March 8. The picture previously made its UK premiere at the BFI London Film Festival.
The timely drama explores the migrant crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border from a variety of points of view, from the people stuck in the treacherous natural environment, to activists trying to help them and border guards charged with keeping them out.
The work hit the headlines earlier this year when Holland was attacked by Poland’s far-right government as the film world premiered to acclaim at the Venice Film Festival in September, where it won the Special Jury Prize.
Polish distributor Kino Świat pushed on with the...
- 12/20/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
As we usher in a new year of cinematic endeavors, one film has already carved a distinctive niche in the 2023 landscape: The Peasants. This groundbreaking piece not only captivates with its narrative and aesthetics but sets a benchmark for what audiences can expect from the art form. Let’s explore the seven reasons why The Peasants is poised to become a touchstone for this year’s cinema. Innovative storytelling that captivates The Peasants innovative storytelling breathes new life into the classic novel by Władysław Reymont, transforming it into a cinematic experience that defies traditional boundaries. Directors Dk Welchman and Hugh Welchman...
- 12/16/2023
- by Steve Delikson
- TVovermind.com
The husband-and-wife team behind 2019 feature animation Oscar nominee Loving Vincent, Dk and Hugh Welchman, is back in the awards race this season with The Peasants.
Adapted from Nobel Prize-winning writer Władysław Reymont’s classic turn-of-the-century novel of the same name, the production uses the same hand-painted technique as its predecessor but on a grander scale.
The drama revolves a free-spirited young woman, Jagna, determined to forge her own path in a late 19th century Polish village. She is knocked off course when she is married off to a wealthy widower, while being in love with his son.
Alongside being Poland’s International Feature Film Oscar entry, the work is also in the running for Animated Feature.
Related: Oscars Unveil Eligible Films List For International Feature, Feature Documentary And Animated Feature Categories
Hugh Welchman credits wife Dk with coming up with the idea of adapting the novel.
“It’s a classic...
Adapted from Nobel Prize-winning writer Władysław Reymont’s classic turn-of-the-century novel of the same name, the production uses the same hand-painted technique as its predecessor but on a grander scale.
The drama revolves a free-spirited young woman, Jagna, determined to forge her own path in a late 19th century Polish village. She is knocked off course when she is married off to a wealthy widower, while being in love with his son.
Alongside being Poland’s International Feature Film Oscar entry, the work is also in the running for Animated Feature.
Related: Oscars Unveil Eligible Films List For International Feature, Feature Documentary And Animated Feature Categories
Hugh Welchman credits wife Dk with coming up with the idea of adapting the novel.
“It’s a classic...
- 12/9/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Interrupted by a serious accident and all manner of other unexpected inconveniences, Władysław Reymont’s celebrated novel, The Peasants, took seven years to write. Interrupted by a war, Hugh Welchman and Dk Welchman’s adaptation took five years to film, and it could easily have been more had the two directors (who are also a couple) not accepted the need for compromise. If you’re familiar with their names, that’s likely due to the success of 2018 Oscar nominee and European Film Award winner Loving Vincent, every one of whose 56,000 frames was hand-painted in oils. A similar number of frames were painted this time around, but in places digitally drawn images were used in between them. It doesn’t really show. The result is a feast for the eyes.
Just as Reymont’s book immersed itself in the metaphorical colour of Polish peasant life, so the Welchmans’ film delivers a flood of literal colour,...
Just as Reymont’s book immersed itself in the metaphorical colour of Polish peasant life, so the Welchmans’ film delivers a flood of literal colour,...
- 12/8/2023
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Rotoscope-style animation gives this version of Władysław Reymont’s story an interesting look, but the performances and tone can’t live up to the visuals
Husband-and-wife film-makers Dk Welchman (née Dorota Kobiela) and Hugh Welchman made a real impression five years ago with their animation Loving Vincent, made in a pastiche style of Van Gogh’s own paintings using digital techniques to enhance hand-painted original work – a bit like the rotoscope approach of computer animation pioneer Bob Sabiston. A single-joke or single-idea movie, perhaps, but certainly interesting. Now, to some acclaim, they have done the same thing to the 1904-09 novel The Peasants by Nobel prizewinner Władysław Reymont (first adapted for Polish TV in the early 70s).
There’s the same digi-painted world derived from live action, the same visual effect of the forms and details on screen seeming always imperceptibly to throb or rustle, like a field of corn.
Husband-and-wife film-makers Dk Welchman (née Dorota Kobiela) and Hugh Welchman made a real impression five years ago with their animation Loving Vincent, made in a pastiche style of Van Gogh’s own paintings using digital techniques to enhance hand-painted original work – a bit like the rotoscope approach of computer animation pioneer Bob Sabiston. A single-joke or single-idea movie, perhaps, but certainly interesting. Now, to some acclaim, they have done the same thing to the 1904-09 novel The Peasants by Nobel prizewinner Władysław Reymont (first adapted for Polish TV in the early 70s).
There’s the same digi-painted world derived from live action, the same visual effect of the forms and details on screen seeming always imperceptibly to throb or rustle, like a field of corn.
- 12/5/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
The Peasants would already be a daunting project in the best of times. Like their previous film, Loving Vincent, directors Hugh and Dk Welchman oversaw a team of animators painting each frame of the film based on live-action reference material. Hugh, who came to Los Angeles from Poland just for his 12-minute Contenders panel, said The Peasants also had to work around Covid and the Ukraine War.
Between the pandemic and the war, The Peasants — which is Poland’s entry for the Best International Feature Film Oscar — faced difficulty getting all of their painters in the same room.
“We can’t do stuff remotely,” Hugh said. “We have people sitting in front of easels with a whole lighting setup in each of the painting animation workstations.”
The Peasants recruited painters from Poland, Serbia, Lithuania and Ukraine and faced 20 percent inflation over the years of production. The Ukraine war cut much...
Between the pandemic and the war, The Peasants — which is Poland’s entry for the Best International Feature Film Oscar — faced difficulty getting all of their painters in the same room.
“We can’t do stuff remotely,” Hugh said. “We have people sitting in front of easels with a whole lighting setup in each of the painting animation workstations.”
The Peasants recruited painters from Poland, Serbia, Lithuania and Ukraine and faced 20 percent inflation over the years of production. The Ukraine war cut much...
- 11/18/2023
- by Fred Topel
- Deadline Film + TV
The Peasants Sound and Screen performance stood out with a full line of Polish dancers in the aisles. Composer Lukas Rostkowski, aka L.U.C., said the animated film’s score also included a choir of refugee singers from Ukraine.
“These ladies came from Ukraine to dance and they were just amateurs,” Rostkowski said. “They were singing after the war because when they were singing, that was the only moment where they didn’t think about the war and their husbands’ death.”
Rostkowski added that many of the film’s painters also were based in Ukraine and had to be evacuated to complete the movie.
The Peasants is directors Dk and Hugh Welchman’s follow-up to Loving Vincent, using the same animation style of painting every frame over actors’ performances. The new film is based on Wladyslaw Reymont’s novel about a 19th century peasant who marries a wealthy husband.
“These ladies came from Ukraine to dance and they were just amateurs,” Rostkowski said. “They were singing after the war because when they were singing, that was the only moment where they didn’t think about the war and their husbands’ death.”
Rostkowski added that many of the film’s painters also were based in Ukraine and had to be evacuated to complete the movie.
The Peasants is directors Dk and Hugh Welchman’s follow-up to Loving Vincent, using the same animation style of painting every frame over actors’ performances. The new film is based on Wladyslaw Reymont’s novel about a 19th century peasant who marries a wealthy husband.
- 11/10/2023
- by Fred Topel
- Deadline Film + TV
New-made furniture, scuffed to look vintage, rarely convinces as anything other than pastiche. Portraits painted as closely as possible to resemble the photographs on which they’re based are a similarly strange phenomenon: admiration for the painter’s skill is undercut by the sense of creative constraint. For the same reasons “The Peasants,” on which married directors Dk and Hugh Welchman apply the technique — of hand-painting over live-action frames — that brought them breakout success with Van Gogh biopic “Loving Vincent,” is a film that impresses in its painstaking, years-long construction, without ever really supplying a reason (beyond prettiness) for such a laborious aesthetic.
To fully handpaint 40,000 oil paintings (which translates to around six frames out of every second of resulting footage) at a rate of five hours per painting, on top of the standard writing, casting, costuming, shooting, editing etc of live-action, is a mission so impractical that Quixote himself would probably have quailed.
To fully handpaint 40,000 oil paintings (which translates to around six frames out of every second of resulting footage) at a rate of five hours per painting, on top of the standard writing, casting, costuming, shooting, editing etc of live-action, is a mission so impractical that Quixote himself would probably have quailed.
- 10/11/2023
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Variety has been given access to the international trailer for animated film “The Peasants,” which is Poland’s entry for the international feature category of the Academy Awards. The film had its world premiere in the Special Presentation section of Toronto Film Festival last month, and screens next week at the London Film Festival.
New Europe Film Sales has sold rights to “The Peasants” to more than 70 countries, including German-speaking Europe (Plaion), France (The Jokers), Benelux (Paradiso), South Korea (First Run), China (Jl Film), Scandinavia (Another World Entertainment) and Spain (Karma), as well as North America, Latin America, the Middle East and Australia/New Zealand (Sony Pictures Classics).
“The Peasants” is directed by D.K. Welchman (formerly known as Dorota Kobiela) and Hugh Welchman, the filmmakers behind “Loving Vincent.” The latter film was nominated for the animated feature film Oscar in 2018, and grossed more than $50 million at the global box office.
New Europe Film Sales has sold rights to “The Peasants” to more than 70 countries, including German-speaking Europe (Plaion), France (The Jokers), Benelux (Paradiso), South Korea (First Run), China (Jl Film), Scandinavia (Another World Entertainment) and Spain (Karma), as well as North America, Latin America, the Middle East and Australia/New Zealand (Sony Pictures Classics).
“The Peasants” is directed by D.K. Welchman (formerly known as Dorota Kobiela) and Hugh Welchman, the filmmakers behind “Loving Vincent.” The latter film was nominated for the animated feature film Oscar in 2018, and grossed more than $50 million at the global box office.
- 10/5/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
‘The Peasants’ comes from the same team that made ‘Loving Vincent’.
Vertigo Releasing has acquired UK rights to Dk Welchman and Hugh Welchman’s animated feature The Peasants from New Europe Film Sales.
The Polish animation debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival last month, and will have its UK premiere on Wednesday, October 11 at the BFI London Film Festival (Lff).
It is Poland’s entry to the best international feature Oscar race.
Vertigo Releasing is aiming for a UK-Ireland release in mid-November, following the film’s Polish release on October 13 through Next Film.
New Europe Film Sales has sold the film to over 50 territories,...
Vertigo Releasing has acquired UK rights to Dk Welchman and Hugh Welchman’s animated feature The Peasants from New Europe Film Sales.
The Polish animation debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival last month, and will have its UK premiere on Wednesday, October 11 at the BFI London Film Festival (Lff).
It is Poland’s entry to the best international feature Oscar race.
Vertigo Releasing is aiming for a UK-Ireland release in mid-November, following the film’s Polish release on October 13 through Next Film.
New Europe Film Sales has sold the film to over 50 territories,...
- 10/5/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
‘The Peasants’ comes from the same team that made ‘Loving Vincent’.
Vertigo Releasing has acquired UK-Ireland rights to Dk Welchman and Hugh Welchman’s animated feature The Peasants from New Europe Film Sales.
The Polish animation debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival last month, and will have its UK premiere on Wednesday, October 11 at the BFI London Film Festival (Lff).
It is Poland’s entry to the best international film Oscar.
Vertigo Releasing is aiming for a UK-Ireland release in mid-November, following the film’s Polish release on October 13 through Next Film.
New Europe Film Sales has sold the film to over 50 territories,...
Vertigo Releasing has acquired UK-Ireland rights to Dk Welchman and Hugh Welchman’s animated feature The Peasants from New Europe Film Sales.
The Polish animation debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival last month, and will have its UK premiere on Wednesday, October 11 at the BFI London Film Festival (Lff).
It is Poland’s entry to the best international film Oscar.
Vertigo Releasing is aiming for a UK-Ireland release in mid-November, following the film’s Polish release on October 13 through Next Film.
New Europe Film Sales has sold the film to over 50 territories,...
- 10/5/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
The film uses the same painted animation technique as the directors’ Loving Vincent.
Sony Pictures Classics has acquired all rights to The Peasants, Poland’s submission for this year’s international film Oscar, for North America, Latin America, the Middle East and Australia/New Zealand.
Written and directed by Dk Welchman and Hugh Welchman, The Peasants had its world premiere as a special presentation at this year’s Toronto festival. It uses the same painting animation technique that the filmmakers employed on their 2017 project Loving Vincent, which was nominated for the best animated feature Oscar.
Based on an early twentieth...
Sony Pictures Classics has acquired all rights to The Peasants, Poland’s submission for this year’s international film Oscar, for North America, Latin America, the Middle East and Australia/New Zealand.
Written and directed by Dk Welchman and Hugh Welchman, The Peasants had its world premiere as a special presentation at this year’s Toronto festival. It uses the same painting animation technique that the filmmakers employed on their 2017 project Loving Vincent, which was nominated for the best animated feature Oscar.
Based on an early twentieth...
- 9/29/2023
- by John Hazelton
- ScreenDaily
Sony Pictures has snapped up rights in North America, Latin America, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand to The Peasants, the latest animated feature from Loving Vincent helmers Dk Welchman and Hugh Welchman, which world premiered in Special Presentations at this year’s Toronto Film Festival. Further details on release plans have not yet been disclosed.
Recently selected by Poland as its official entry for Best International Feature at the 2024 Oscars, and set to contend in the Best Animated Feature category, as well, The Peasants is based on the same-name, early 20th century novel by Polish author Władysław Reymont. The film tells the story of Jagna, a young woman determined to forge her own path within the confines of a late 19th century Polish village — a hotbed of gossip and ongoing feuds, held together, rich and poor, by pride in their land, adherence to colorful traditions and a deep-rooted patriarchy.
Recently selected by Poland as its official entry for Best International Feature at the 2024 Oscars, and set to contend in the Best Animated Feature category, as well, The Peasants is based on the same-name, early 20th century novel by Polish author Władysław Reymont. The film tells the story of Jagna, a young woman determined to forge her own path within the confines of a late 19th century Polish village — a hotbed of gossip and ongoing feuds, held together, rich and poor, by pride in their land, adherence to colorful traditions and a deep-rooted patriarchy.
- 9/29/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
In the 1930s, the Polish port city of Gdynia became a brief landing pad for immigrants from neighboring countries, including Jews who sought safety and prosperity before the rise of Nazi Germany. Though the Museum of Gdynia quietly explains this messy history, obvious markers of that past aren’t visible across the city. Its marina boasts a massive monument to 18th-century Polish military hero Tadeusz Kościuszko, whose actions became the stuff of legend both for the Poles and the Americans, but otherwise Gdynia stands anew, with sparkling metallic structures surrounding its stretch of the Puck Bay and the Polanka Redłowska forest.
By contrast, in the nearby town of Gdańsk, with its brightly colored and narrow buildings that hug a labyrinthine waterway, the markers of history are more immediately apparent to the naked eye. Much of the buildings have been reconstructed such that nearly every street teems with homages to the past.
By contrast, in the nearby town of Gdańsk, with its brightly colored and narrow buildings that hug a labyrinthine waterway, the markers of history are more immediately apparent to the naked eye. Much of the buildings have been reconstructed such that nearly every street teems with homages to the past.
- 9/28/2023
- by Greg Nussen
- Slant Magazine
It’s a strange time for Agnieszka Holland. Green Border, the new film from the acclaimed Polish director — a three-time Oscar nominee — just celebrated the best opening for a Polish movie in cinemas this year with 137,000 admissions over its first weekend, according to local distributor Kino Świat. It’s particularly impressive given that the film, a black-and-white drama depicting the real-life plight of refugees stranded on the natural border between Poland and Belarus, can be a rough watch.
In late 2021, thousands of refugees from the Middle East and Africa were lured to the Polish border by Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, who cynically engineered a geopolitical crisis, promising migrants easy passage over the Polish border into the European Union. But the Polish government refused to let them in, leaving families stranded and starving in the swampy, treacherous forests between the two countries. Holland’s film intertwines the perspectives of the stranded refugees,...
In late 2021, thousands of refugees from the Middle East and Africa were lured to the Polish border by Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, who cynically engineered a geopolitical crisis, promising migrants easy passage over the Polish border into the European Union. But the Polish government refused to let them in, leaving families stranded and starving in the swampy, treacherous forests between the two countries. Holland’s film intertwines the perspectives of the stranded refugees,...
- 9/26/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Poland’s Oscar committee has selected The Peasants, a sumptuous animated literary adaptation from Loving Vincent directors Dk and Hugh Welchman, as the country’s submission for the best international feature category at the 2024 Oscars, over The Green Border, a critically-acclaimed film from two-time Oscar nominee Agnieszka Holland (Europa Europa, In Darkness).
The decision, announced by the committee in Warsaw Monday afternoon, comes after a concerted attack on The Green Border by Poland’s far-right government, with the justice minister and the country’s president condemning the film and comparing it to “Nazi propaganda” for its depiction of the refugee crisis on Poland’s border with Belarus.
The head of Poland’s Oscar committee, producer Ewa Puszczyńska, whose credits include the Oscar-winner Ida, the Oscar-nominated Quo vadis, Aida? and Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest, the U.K. entry for the 2024 best international feature race, said deliberations were “tough...
The decision, announced by the committee in Warsaw Monday afternoon, comes after a concerted attack on The Green Border by Poland’s far-right government, with the justice minister and the country’s president condemning the film and comparing it to “Nazi propaganda” for its depiction of the refugee crisis on Poland’s border with Belarus.
The head of Poland’s Oscar committee, producer Ewa Puszczyńska, whose credits include the Oscar-winner Ida, the Oscar-nominated Quo vadis, Aida? and Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest, the U.K. entry for the 2024 best international feature race, said deliberations were “tough...
- 9/25/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: Poland will submit animated feature drama The Peasants for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards.
The picture is the latest work from Dk Welchman (previously known as Dorota Kobiela) and Hugh Welchman, the creative duo behind the groundbreaking, Oscar-nominated, hand-painted biopic Loving Vincent.
The pair co-wrote The Peasants screenplay adaptation from Nobel Prize-winning writer Władysław Reymont’s classic 1905 novel of the same name about a young woman determined to forge her own path within the confines of a late 19th century Polish village.
Poland’s Oscar entry choice was made Monday by a selection committee overseen by the Polish Film Institute. There was a strong offering of Polish films this year, with other potential contenders including Agnieszka Holland’s migrant drama Green Border and Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englerts’ transgender drama Woman Of.
Related: Agnieszka Holland’s Migrant Crisis Drama ‘Green Border’ Posts Record Opening Weekend...
The picture is the latest work from Dk Welchman (previously known as Dorota Kobiela) and Hugh Welchman, the creative duo behind the groundbreaking, Oscar-nominated, hand-painted biopic Loving Vincent.
The pair co-wrote The Peasants screenplay adaptation from Nobel Prize-winning writer Władysław Reymont’s classic 1905 novel of the same name about a young woman determined to forge her own path within the confines of a late 19th century Polish village.
Poland’s Oscar entry choice was made Monday by a selection committee overseen by the Polish Film Institute. There was a strong offering of Polish films this year, with other potential contenders including Agnieszka Holland’s migrant drama Green Border and Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englerts’ transgender drama Woman Of.
Related: Agnieszka Holland’s Migrant Crisis Drama ‘Green Border’ Posts Record Opening Weekend...
- 9/25/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
It would have been natural for directors Dk Welchman and Hugh Welchman to follow up their highly acclaimed, arthouse smash hit Loving Vincent, about Vincent Van Gogh, with another film exactly in the same vein: Pining for Picasso, Mooning Over Monet, Rhapsodizing About Rembrandt — the possibilities seem aimless. But this talented husband-and-wife filmmaking team has taken their distinctive style of painterly cinema in an even more ambitious direction with their new effort, which received its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Adapted from Polish author Wladyslaw Reymont’s Nobel Prize-winning novel, released in four parts from 1904 to 1909, The Peasants is a ravishingly beautiful visual triumph.
The folklore-style tale, set in a 19th-century rural Polish village, revolves around star-crossed lovers. Jamila (Kamila Urzedowska, stunning in animated form) is a young woman whose striking blonde beauty has made her both the subject of intense gossip among the villagers and the...
The folklore-style tale, set in a 19th-century rural Polish village, revolves around star-crossed lovers. Jamila (Kamila Urzedowska, stunning in animated form) is a young woman whose striking blonde beauty has made her both the subject of intense gossip among the villagers and the...
- 9/18/2023
- by Frank Scheck
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Peasants, directed by creators D.K. Welchman and Hugh Welchman, uses much of the same oil live action-painting-on-canvas techniques captured in their earlier Oscar-nominated animated film Loving Vincent.
But the artistic process of actors first shot in live action and then thousands of oil paintings created from the film footage was also far different, and unshackling, say the directors, as they were no longer restricted by the specific work of Vincent van Gogh, like the famous Starry Night, and his inner mind as he painted the world around him.
In The Peasants, which is receiving a world premiere in Toronto, the directors had the freedom of embracing an epic 19th century Poland and a far wider range of realist and pre-impressionist paintings for the animated film inspired by their source material, the Nobel prize-winning novel of the same name by Wladyslaw Reymont.
“This is the opposite approach. We had the...
But the artistic process of actors first shot in live action and then thousands of oil paintings created from the film footage was also far different, and unshackling, say the directors, as they were no longer restricted by the specific work of Vincent van Gogh, like the famous Starry Night, and his inner mind as he painted the world around him.
In The Peasants, which is receiving a world premiere in Toronto, the directors had the freedom of embracing an epic 19th century Poland and a far wider range of realist and pre-impressionist paintings for the animated film inspired by their source material, the Nobel prize-winning novel of the same name by Wladyslaw Reymont.
“This is the opposite approach. We had the...
- 9/15/2023
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Here’s the best kind of cinematic double down: One that doesn’t just repeat a past triumph, but goes deeper.
“Loving Vincent” was a dreamy plunge into the art of Vincent Van Gogh, which directors D.K. Welchman and Hugh Welchman created via tens of thousands of oil paintings, each frame of the animated film a full-size work on canvas you could hang on a wall. They’ve said that they’re always asked, “When are we getting ‘Loving Vincent II’?” As in, another animated film about another artist rendered in that artist’s style.
Instead, the wife-and-husband directorial team swerved and delivered something infinitely more ambitious, if commercially more challenging. Their long-awaited follow-up is “The Peasants,” a sensuous, richly immersive adaptation of Nobel laureate Wladislaw Reymont’s early 20th-century novel about life in a rural Polish village. D.K. Welchman is Polish (“Loving Vincent” is technically the highest-grossing Polish...
“Loving Vincent” was a dreamy plunge into the art of Vincent Van Gogh, which directors D.K. Welchman and Hugh Welchman created via tens of thousands of oil paintings, each frame of the animated film a full-size work on canvas you could hang on a wall. They’ve said that they’re always asked, “When are we getting ‘Loving Vincent II’?” As in, another animated film about another artist rendered in that artist’s style.
Instead, the wife-and-husband directorial team swerved and delivered something infinitely more ambitious, if commercially more challenging. Their long-awaited follow-up is “The Peasants,” a sensuous, richly immersive adaptation of Nobel laureate Wladislaw Reymont’s early 20th-century novel about life in a rural Polish village. D.K. Welchman is Polish (“Loving Vincent” is technically the highest-grossing Polish...
- 9/13/2023
- by Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
After 2017’s Loving Vincent and Toronto International Film Festival world premiere The Peasants, it is clear that Dk Welchman and Hugh Welchman have developed a gorgeously distinct, personal, ludicrously involved style of filmmaking. Loving Vincent, a clever biography of Vincent Van Gogh, was sold as “the world’s first fully painted feature film,” and indeed it was. The painting process returns in The Peasants, an adaptation of Władysław Reymont’s early 1900s, Nobel Prize–winning novel. A staggering 40,000 frames of film were painted to bring The Peasants to life.
That is an incredible achievement, one that should give the filmmakers and all involved in the production a sense of pride. Unfortunately, watching the finished product inspires difficult questions. Was it worth it? Does the final product warrant the years of painstaking labor involved? Both questions must be answered with a firm no. The Peasants is a visually breathtaking, dramatically inert misfire.
That is an incredible achievement, one that should give the filmmakers and all involved in the production a sense of pride. Unfortunately, watching the finished product inspires difficult questions. Was it worth it? Does the final product warrant the years of painstaking labor involved? Both questions must be answered with a firm no. The Peasants is a visually breathtaking, dramatically inert misfire.
- 9/10/2023
- by Christopher Schobert
- The Film Stage
When Hayao Miyazaki’s semi-autobiographical fantasy “The Boy and the Heron” had its international premiere Sept. 7, it wasn’t just the first animated film to open TIFF, or the master director’s first in a decade. It is also part of an unexpected resurgence of animated work at major international festivals.
“When we started doing [2017’s] ‘Loving Vincent,’ only one adult animated film every five years got any kind of recognition,” says Hugh Welchman, who directed ”Vincent” and “The Peasants,” which premiered Sept. 8 at TIFF, with wife D.K. Welchman. “Now it seems that every year one kind of breaks out.”
Their Oscar-nominated Vincent van Gogh biopic helped inspire this trend, earning $42.2 million worldwide on a $5.5 million budget. “Heron” is already continuing arthouse animation’s successful run, taking in $50.6 million since July in Japan alone. And prominent fests are increasing their support: in 2019, Cannes launched an Animation Day in partnership with the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
“When we started doing [2017’s] ‘Loving Vincent,’ only one adult animated film every five years got any kind of recognition,” says Hugh Welchman, who directed ”Vincent” and “The Peasants,” which premiered Sept. 8 at TIFF, with wife D.K. Welchman. “Now it seems that every year one kind of breaks out.”
Their Oscar-nominated Vincent van Gogh biopic helped inspire this trend, earning $42.2 million worldwide on a $5.5 million budget. “Heron” is already continuing arthouse animation’s successful run, taking in $50.6 million since July in Japan alone. And prominent fests are increasing their support: in 2019, Cannes launched an Animation Day in partnership with the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
- 9/8/2023
- by Gregg Goldstein
- Variety Film + TV
With the long-awaited follow-up to their Oscar-nominated animated feature “Loving Vincent,” directors D.K. Welchman (formerly known as Dorota Kobiela) and Hugh Welchman revisit the striking, hand-painted animation technique that dramatically brought the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh to life in their groundbreaking debut, which grossed more than $50 million globally.
But “The Peasants,” which is based on the novel by Nobel Prize-winning Polish author Władysław Reymont and premieres Sept. 8 at the Toronto Film Festival, is a work of far greater scope and ambition. “The scale of the film is different,” says Hugh. “Whereas ‘Loving Vincent’ was very much talking heads…this is about a community with some huge set pieces. We have battles, lynchings, big dance numbers, big weddings. It involves many more people, much more dynamic action in a totally different approach to the use of camera than ‘Loving Vincent.’”
Set toward the end of the 19th century and lavishly...
But “The Peasants,” which is based on the novel by Nobel Prize-winning Polish author Władysław Reymont and premieres Sept. 8 at the Toronto Film Festival, is a work of far greater scope and ambition. “The scale of the film is different,” says Hugh. “Whereas ‘Loving Vincent’ was very much talking heads…this is about a community with some huge set pieces. We have battles, lynchings, big dance numbers, big weddings. It involves many more people, much more dynamic action in a totally different approach to the use of camera than ‘Loving Vincent.’”
Set toward the end of the 19th century and lavishly...
- 9/8/2023
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Anonymous Content has partnered with New Europe Film Sales to handle North American rights for animated feature The Peasants, directed by Oscar-nominated Loving Vincent filmmakers D.K. Welchman and Hugh Welchman.
The project is adapted from Wladyslaw Reymont’s classic novel of the same name and is produced in the same oil painting format as Loving Vincent. The Peasants tells the story of Jagna, a young woman determined to forge her own path within the confines of a late 19th century Polish village – a hotbed of gossip and on-going feuds, held together, rich and poor, by pride in their land, adherence to colorful traditions and a deep-rooted patriarchy. When she finds herself caught between the conflicting desires of the village’s richest farmer, his eldest son and other leading men of the community, her resistance puts her on a tragic collision course with the community around her.
Anonymous Content will...
The project is adapted from Wladyslaw Reymont’s classic novel of the same name and is produced in the same oil painting format as Loving Vincent. The Peasants tells the story of Jagna, a young woman determined to forge her own path within the confines of a late 19th century Polish village – a hotbed of gossip and on-going feuds, held together, rich and poor, by pride in their land, adherence to colorful traditions and a deep-rooted patriarchy. When she finds herself caught between the conflicting desires of the village’s richest farmer, his eldest son and other leading men of the community, her resistance puts her on a tragic collision course with the community around her.
Anonymous Content will...
- 7/20/2023
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
"Love comes and goes, but land stays." BreakThru Films has revealed another new teaser trailer for their highly anticipated new project called The Peasants, an entirely hand-painted by artists film from Poland directed by the filmmakers Dk Welchman & Hugh Welchman. This has been in the works for years already, we previously featured a promo trailer in 2020, stating it would be done by 2022, but with the pandemic everything slowed down. A story about an early 20th Polish peasant woman who creates havoc by marrying an older rich man. The epic novel of Wladyslaw Reymont has been brought to life using the popular realist and pre-impressionist paintings from the 19th Century, with an emphasis on the Young Poland Movement and the works of such artists as Józef Chełmoński, Ferdynand Ruszczyc and Julian Fałat. It's a follow-up to their hand-painted film Loving Vincent, about Vincent Van Gogh. Every single frame is painted by someone,...
- 7/10/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
The first fully oil-painted feature film, the Vincent Van Gogh biopic Loving Vincent was a work of epic proportions, taking 125 painters over six years to create, resulting in 65,000 painted frames. Dk Welchman and Hugh Welchman’s feature ended up taking in $52 million worldwide on a $5.5 million budget, and now the team is back with their follow-up, The Peasants. Ahead of a premiere later this year, a new trailer has arrived for the project.
The adaptation of the Wladyslaw Reymont novel tells the story of Jagna, a young woman determined to forge her own path within the confines of a late 19th-century Polish village––a hotbed of gossip and on-going feuds, held together, rich and poor, by pride in their land, adherence to colorful traditions and a deep-rooted patriarchy. When Jagna finds herself caught between the conflicting desires of the village’s richest farmer, his eldest son and other leading men of the community,...
The adaptation of the Wladyslaw Reymont novel tells the story of Jagna, a young woman determined to forge her own path within the confines of a late 19th-century Polish village––a hotbed of gossip and on-going feuds, held together, rich and poor, by pride in their land, adherence to colorful traditions and a deep-rooted patriarchy. When Jagna finds herself caught between the conflicting desires of the village’s richest farmer, his eldest son and other leading men of the community,...
- 7/3/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Animayo, Spain’s leading animation festival, is celebrating its 18th edition with the help of Disney legend Andreas Deja who will be presenting his independently-produced short, “Mushka.” “Having Deja choose Animayo to debut his film in Spain is the greatest honor,” said Damian Perea, founder-director of the festival, which unspools May 3-6 on the island of Gran Canaria.
A hand-drawn 2D animated story about an unlikely friendship between a young girl and a Siberian tiger in 1970s’ Soviet Union, “Mushka” is Deja’s directorial debut. His lauded Walt Disney Animation Studio credits include “The Lion King,” “Aladdin,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.”
Other notable Spanish premieres at Animayo include that of Jan Bubenicek and Denisa Grimmova’s “Even Mice Belong in Heaven,” about two mortal enemies, a mouse and a fox, who after an accident, find themselves in animal heaven.
Animayo will also treat attendees to...
A hand-drawn 2D animated story about an unlikely friendship between a young girl and a Siberian tiger in 1970s’ Soviet Union, “Mushka” is Deja’s directorial debut. His lauded Walt Disney Animation Studio credits include “The Lion King,” “Aladdin,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.”
Other notable Spanish premieres at Animayo include that of Jan Bubenicek and Denisa Grimmova’s “Even Mice Belong in Heaven,” about two mortal enemies, a mouse and a fox, who after an accident, find themselves in animal heaven.
Animayo will also treat attendees to...
- 5/2/2023
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
New Europe Film Sales has closed several further distribution deals for animated feature “The Peasants,” the followup to Oscar nominee “Loving Vincent,” which grossed more than 50 million at the global box office.
New sales include Benelux (Paradiso), the former Yugoslavia (McF Megacom), Hungary (Vertigo), Portugal (Outsider Films), Turkey (Birfilm) and Scandinavia (Another World Entertainment). The company is in negotiations with buyers in Spain and the Baltics. U.K. and North America rights remain open.
Key European sales previously closed include to Plaion in Germany and Jokers in France.
“The Peasants,” which is directed by “Loving Vincent” filmmakers D.K. Welchman (formerly known as Dorota Kobiela) and Hugh Welchman, is being produced with the same painting technique as used in “Vincent.” The directors were inspired by a wide repertoire of realist and pre-impressionist paintings to depict the Nobel prize-winning novel of Wladyslaw Reymont on film. Set at the end of the 19th century,...
New sales include Benelux (Paradiso), the former Yugoslavia (McF Megacom), Hungary (Vertigo), Portugal (Outsider Films), Turkey (Birfilm) and Scandinavia (Another World Entertainment). The company is in negotiations with buyers in Spain and the Baltics. U.K. and North America rights remain open.
Key European sales previously closed include to Plaion in Germany and Jokers in France.
“The Peasants,” which is directed by “Loving Vincent” filmmakers D.K. Welchman (formerly known as Dorota Kobiela) and Hugh Welchman, is being produced with the same painting technique as used in “Vincent.” The directors were inspired by a wide repertoire of realist and pre-impressionist paintings to depict the Nobel prize-winning novel of Wladyslaw Reymont on film. Set at the end of the 19th century,...
- 2/17/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.