A teaser has been released for The Peasants, a new feature from Gdansk, Poland-based Breakthru Films and the filmmakers of the Oscar-nominated Loving Vincent. The film, which is oil-painted from rotoscope footage, is expected to premiere later this year.
Here’s what we know about the production :
- The Peasants is based on the Nobel Prize-winning novel by Wladyslaw Reymont. This is the filmmakers’ synopsis:
Jagna is 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, her resistance puts her on a tragic collision course with the community around her.
- The film is directed by DK Welchman (formerly known as Dorota Kobiela) and Hugh Welchman. The wife-and-husband directorial duo burst onto the animation scene with Loving Vincent (2017), which won the European Film Award for animated feature, audience award at Annecy, and was nominated for an Oscar and Golden Globe. The film grossed over $42 million at the global box office.
- The Peasants is a co-production between Poland, Serbia, and Lithuania. Production companies are Digitalkraft, Art. Shot, Breakthru Productions, Canal + Polska, Narodowy Centrum Kultury, Mazowiecki Instytut Kultury, and SKP Ślusarek Kubiak Pieczyk.
- New Europe Film Sales is handling distribution sales and has presold in many key European territories. North American distribution has yet to be announced.
- The film was shot first in live action with a Polish cast, starring Kamila Urzędowska as Jagna. It was subsequently rotoscoped using the same oil-painting technique as Loving Vincent, with Piotr Dominiak as head of paint animation. Stylistically, the film draws on realist and pre-Impressionist painting styles from the 19th century, with an emphasis on the Young Poland movement and the work of such artists as Józef Chełmoński, Ferdynand Ruszczyc, and Julian Fałat.
