The Peasants, the adult animated historical drama from the creators of Loving Vincent will be released in Irish cinemas from Friday 8th December.
The Peasants is the latest work from DK Welchman and Hugh Welchman, the duo behind the groundbreaking, hand-painted 2017 biopic Loving Vincent which received international acclaim including BAFTA, Golden Globes and Academy Awards nominations. The Peasants has been announced as the opening film of Kinopolis in the Irish Film Institute on Thursday 7th December. Co-director Hugh Welchman will be attending the preview screening and will take part in a post-screening Q&A.
The film, which is Poland’s entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards, is adapted from Wladyslaw Reymont’s Nobel Prize-winning novel and tells the story of a late 19th century Polish peasant woman who creates havoc by marrying an older rich man.
Produced using the painted animation technique that was used for Loving Vincent, The Peasants was first filmed as a live-action feature-length film with an ensemble cast including Kamila Urzędowska in the lead role as well as Mirosław Baka, Ewa Kasprzyk, Sonia Bohosiewicz, Małgorzata Kożuchowska, Dorota Stalińska, Andrzej Konopka, Maciej Musiał and Julia Wieniawa. The directors then collaborated with a team of over 100 painting animators in four studios across Poland, Serbia, Lithuania and Ukraine who worked by hand to paint over film frames and animate the story in a process that took around two years to complete.
The film features inspiration and interpretations of European paintings from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, with an emphasis on young Polish artists such as Józef Chełmoński, Ferdynand Ruszczyc, Jan Stanisławski, Julian Fałat, Leon Wyczółkowski, Piotr Michałowski, Jules Breton and Jean-Francois Millet.
Since its world premiere at the renowned Toronto International Film Festival last year The Peasants has screened at festivals across the globe including the BFI London Film Festival last month. It has been selected as Poland’s entry for the Best International Feature Film for the upcoming 96th Academy Awards.
It will open in selected Irish cinemas from Friday 8th December.
