BreakThru Films, the animation studio behind the Oscar® nominated ‘Loving Vincent’ and Oscar® winning ‘Peter & The Wolf’ has commenced principal photography on their new film ‘THE PEASANTS’ based upon the Nobel Prize-winning novel by Wladyslaw Reymont. The film will be directed by Oscar® nominated director Dorota Kobiela and will be produced in the same painting technique as her previous film ‘Loving Vincent’. Today the studio dropped the concept teaser for the new movie, which once again brings paintings to life to tell a powerful emotional story.
’THE PEASANTS’ is a tragic story of a peasant girl Jagna forced to marry a much older, wealthy farmer Boryna, despite her love for his son Antek. With time, Jagna becomes the object of envy and hate of the villagers and has to fight to preserve her independence. Set in the Polish countryside on the cusp of the 19th and 20th Centuries, the story’s dramatic turns tie into the changing seasons, hard labour in the fields and traditional local holidays.
After years of working on a film about Vincent van Gogh I felt a strong need to tell a story about women: to show their struggles and their passion and their strength. – says Dorota Kobiela, the screenwriter and director of the movie.
The epic novel of Wladyslaw Reymont that won him a Nobel Prize in Literature will be brought to life using a wide repertoire of realist and pre-impressionist paintings from the 19th Century, with an emphasis on the key representatives of the Young Poland movement, including Józef Chełmoński, Ferdynand Ruszczyc and Leon Wyczółkowski, loved for their poetic yet meticulous depictions of rural life.
‘THE PEASANTS’ will be produced by Breakthru’s Sean Bobbitt and Hugh Welchman, who also co-wrote the script. The movie will use the same painting technique that won the hearts of fans around the world with ‘Loving Vincent’, which was also nominated for the Golden Globe and BAFTA and made $52m at the global box office. It is the most successful Polish film of all time at the international box office.
WATCH THE TEASER
The film’s premiere is planned for late 2022.