“The Boys” will not compete for an Oscar. The director speaks directly. “It was a tactically well-thought-out attack”

On January 28, 2024, a review of films with a chance to compete for the Eagles Polish Film Award took place at the Iluzjon Cinema in Warsaw. One of the strongest candidates for victory is the film adaptation of Władysław Reymont, directed by the duo DK Welchman and Hugh Welchman, which was selected to represent Poland during this year’s awards gala.

Oscars – nominations 2024. “Chłopi” will not compete for the statuette. DK Welchman talks about why

Taking advantage of this opportunity, DK Welchman decided to speak out and explain why, in her opinion, “Chłopi” lost their chance for the statuette. Her 8-minute speech was extremely emotional because, as she emphasized at the beginning, she felt a great sense of injustice. He blames this decision on a “hate campaign” that started in the Polish media even before the premiere, but “drowned under the wave of love that the audience gave this film.”

Contrary to previous assumptions, this was not the end, but only the beginning. – It was a very well-thought-out tactical move. In fact, it was a media checkmate – , referring to an article that appeared on the Internet at the end of 2023. – On December 4, an article appeared in the media, disguised as an alleged reportage, which was, incidentally, nothing more than a biased attack, or even an attack on our film and its further presence at festivals and competitions – she stated directly.

“Peasants”. The director denies allegations of exploitation. It tells how much budget was allocated for painters’ salaries

Although the director did not provide the title of the mentioned article, many people guessed that it was about revealing the behind-the-scenes work on the production of “For a Bowl of Rice” by . DK Welchman emphasized that, in her opinion, the author used the unreliable opinions of two people, while the team of painters consisted of as many as 200 of them. Moreover, she noted that one of them received disciplinary leave, and the other did not work on , but on the previously nominated for the Oscar “Loving Vincent”. – How much determination did it take to create this distasteful dish from such remains? – she asked. Thus, she denied that this work was exploitative, explaining that as much as 1/3 of the budget, i.e. approximately PLN 9 million, was intended for remuneration for painters.

In her opinion, the failure was also caused by the mixing of the production team with politics and spreading slander outside the country, which ultimately caused the record-breaking film to drop in ratings and ratings. – We were a strong candidate, but having been on the Oscar committee for many years, I know perfectly well how this mechanism works and how cautious one is towards candidates around whom there is any scandal – she added. Finally, she appealed to the members of the Polish Film Academy to be guided only by the value of the film in their choices for this year’s Eagles, and not by the slander created in the media by an environment unfavorable to the creators.