World premiere of “The Peasants” in Toronto. Creators: We didn’t want to make “Loving Vincent 2”

Where did the idea to make “The Peasants” come from? – After spending 10 years of my life with Vincent van Gogh and Armand Roulin, I had a great need to talk about women, their struggles, passion and strength. While painting “Loving Vincent”, I started listening to the audiobook “Chłopi”, the novel fascinated me. It is incredibly picturesque and has interesting female characters – Jagna and Hanka. After listening to it, I fell into almost euphoric joy, I couldn’t stop thinking about the film adaptation – recalls DK Welchman, formerly known as Dorota Kobiela. She is the co-author of the script, director and editor of the film “Loving Vincent”, nominated, among others, to the Oscar and winner of, among others: European Film Award for the best animated film. Now, together with Hugh Welchman, they have reunited and written and directed “The Peasants”.

Director Hugh Welchman: “The Peasants” is the best book about peasant life I have ever read

– I immediately ordered an English translation. I wanted to share this idea with Hugh as soon as possible [Welchmanem – red.] – he adds, and he continues: When we were promoting “Loving Vincent”, I took over 100 flights in 10 months, gained 10 kilograms and crossed the Atlantic four times in one week. As you can imagine, I needed a break after that, so I went on vacation, which also included a digital detox, so no screens. DK bought me the novel “Chłopi” some time earlier, but because it is a thousand pages long, I didn’t have time to read it. This vacation was the first opportunity! I read the novel in a week. It immediately became clear to me that this was a masterpiece. I began to understand why the Nobel Committee, when awarding the literary prize to Władysław Reymont, stated that it was for this work that the writer received the distinction – an unusual situation, because the prize is usually awarded for lifetime achievement – he says and adds:

This is the best book about peasant life I have ever read. Even today, most people living on this planet are peasants, and if we look at the last 10,000 years, virtually everyone who has ever lived has been a peasant. All the food we eat comes from the peasant world, as do all the world’s great religions. Although peasants have dominated human history, most writers and artists focus on the stories of kings, aristocracy and nobility, or the emerging working class and urban world. I thought it would be interesting to make a film about this very underrepresented but incredibly important part of humanity that we all come from. I came back from that trip and said: ‘I have a great idea, DK, maybe we’ll make a movie called “Chłopi”. She replied, ‘Yes, that’s why I gave you the book.’

“We told the actors not to exaggerate their emotions.” Dorota Stalińska could not be stopped from gesturing

Over 100 painters in Poland, Serbia, Ukraine and Lithuania worked on the film and was created using the painting animation technique. – We were looking for a continuation of the painting animation and we did not want to make “Loving Vincent 2” – emphasizes Hugh Welchman. – We wanted to explore what this technique could do, so why not adapt a thousand-page novel into a film that’s less than two hours long? – he asks rhetorically.

Peasants – Jagna in the church Next Film promotional materials

The creators were inspired by the paintings of Young Poland. However, before the great painting began, frames with actors were created. – Working with such cinema personalities as Mirosław Baka, Małgorzata Kożuchowska, Sonia Bohosiewicz, Dorota Stalińska, Ewa Kasprzyk, Andrzej Konopka and Maciej Musiał was pure pleasure. There was amazing energy on set, we had live music and lots of dancing scenes. I think everyone had the feeling that we were creating something unique. An important element for us was the naturalness of the acting. We explained to the actors not to exaggerate their emotions, although some of them were worried that they would not be visible under the layer of paint. It turns out that you can see the most subtle emotions, says DK Welchman. Producer Sean Bobbitt of BreakThru Films (“Peter and the Wolf,” “Loving Vincent”) notes:

During a break between shots, I heard Dorota Stalińska explaining to Julia Wieniawa: ‘You know, they still have to paint all this, so it’s better not to gesticulate too much.’ However, this did not stop Dorota herself from showing her very wide acting expression.

“Peasants” in Toronto. The creators announce a show

The effects of the creators’ work will be seen for the first time during the world premiere of “Peasants” at the Toronto Film Festival. The film was selected for screening in the prestigious Special Presentation section. – The adaptation of “The Peasants” also allowed us to introduce the world to Reymont’s amazing novel, which, despite the Nobel Prize, is currently largely unknown outside Poland. I couldn’t imagine a better place than Toronto to share this epic with foreign audiences for the first time, says Hugh Welchman.

DK Welchman also emphasizes that “The Peasants” is definitely more spectacular than the film about Vincent Van Gogh: – The scale of the two films is incomparable. “Loving Vincent” is an intimate film with a lot of static shots and dialogues. “Chłopi” is a real spectacle. The film has impressive dance and battle scenes. These are incredibly dynamic shots, the camera often follows the hero, a lot is happening in the frame. Working on two films, of course, brought challenges, with “Loving Vincent” we created many original solutions, but “Chłopi” sets the bar much higher – he notes.

We can only keep our fingers crossed for a good reception of the film and wait for the Polish cinema premiere, scheduled for October 13. Later in 2021, Bobbitt and the Welchmans presented “The Peasants” at the Annecy Film Festival and in the industry. In September, the production, distributed by Next Film – a company belonging to the Agora Group – will also take part in the Main Competition of the Polish Feature Film Festival in Gdynia.