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, her resistance puts her on a tragic collision course with the community around her.
Drawing inspiration from 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. “More than sixty painters will work in three studios to complete the 79,000 frames making up the film,” explained Tomasz Wochniak, line producer at BreakThru Films, when the project was announced.
See the new trailer below.