The world premiere of “The Peasants” will take place at the Toronto International Film Festival. The latest film from the creators of “Loving Vincent” — DK Welchman and Hugh Welchman — has been selected for a screening in the Special Presentations section. The Toronto festival runs from 7 to 17 September and is one of the biggest film festivals in the world, attracting more than 480,000 viewers every year. Special Presentations is one of the most prestigious sections in Toronto.
– We are delighted that the world premiere of “The Peasants” will take place at the Toronto International Film Festival. The festival’s mission is “to transform the way people see the world through film”, and that philosophy is close to our hearts. For us, “The Peasants” is another journey that has allowed us to delve into the emotional possibilities and aesthetic beauty of the painted animation technique. Adapting “The Peasants” has also allowed us to introduce the world to Reymont’s incredible novel which, despite the Nobel Prize, is now largely unknown outside Poland. I could not imagine a better place than Toronto to share this epic with international audiences for the first time – says Hugh Welchman, co-director and producer of “The Peasants” at the BreakThru Films studio.
The animated “The Peasants” is the essence of half a century of European painting from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, with an emphasis on the Young Poland style. The film was initially shot as a live-action feature with actors. The cast of “The Peasants” includes Mirosław Baka, Ewa Kasprzyk, Sonia Bohosiewicz, Małgorzata Kożuchowska, Dorota Stalińska, Andrzej Konopka, Maciej Musiał and Julia Wieniawa, with Kamila Urzędowska in the lead role of Jagna. A group of more than 100 painters then began the painted animation, which took over two years. The artists painted the key frames with Cobra oil paints (Royal Talens) on canvas, while a group of animators created the in-between frames to make the whole smooth and pleasing to the eye.
The film is distributed in Poland by Next Film. The Polish premiere is scheduled for 13 October. The first screenings of “The Peasants” in Poland will take place during the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia, where the film is taking part in the Main Competition.
New Europe Film Sales has sold the film to more than 40 countries, including German-speaking Europe (Plaion), France (The Jokers), the Benelux countries (Paradiso), South Korea (First Run), China (JL Film), Scandinavia (Another World Entertainment) and Spain (Karma). The company is negotiating with buyers in the UK and North America, Australia and Japan.
THE PEASANTS
Premiere: 13 October
Directed by: DK Welchman, Hugh Welchman
Screenplay: DK Welchman, Hugh Welchman
Cinematography: Radosław Ładczuk, Kamil Polak, Szymon Kuriata
Editing: DK Welchman
Production design: Elwira Pluta
Costumes: Katarzyna Lewińska
Make-up: Waldemar Pokromski
Music: Łukasz L.U.C. Rostowski & Rebel Babel Orchestras (Laboratorium Pieśni, Julia Wieniawa, Tęgie Chłopy, Sutari, Szymon Lipiński)
Sound: Michał Jankowski
Casting: Ewa Brodzka
Animation director: Piotr Dominiak
Special effects: Kamil Polak
VFX supervisor: Łukasz Mackiewicz
Line producer: Tomasz Wochniak
Producers: Hugh Welchman, Sean Bobbitt
Production: BreakThru Films
Co-financed by: Polish Film Institute
Distribution: NEXT FILM
International sales agent: New Europe Film Sales
Cast (roles used in the animation): Kamila Urzędowska (Jagna), Robert Gulaczyk (Antek), Mirosław Baka (Boryna), Andrzej Konopka (the Village Mayor), Ewa Kasprzyk (Dominikowa), Sonia Mietielica (Hanka), Małgorzata Kożuchowska (the Organist’s Wife), Sonia Bohosiewicz (the Mayor’s Wife), Maciej Musiał (Jasio), Dorota Stalińska (Jagustynka), Julia Wieniawa (Marysia Pastuszka), Mateusz Rusin (Mateusz)
