Movie “The Peasants” (“Chłopi”) is now playing in selected theaters in New York.
Shows time and locations: https://tickets.peasantsmovie.com/
Opens in Los Angeles on Friday, February 2nd and coming soon to the theaters nationwide.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/-1in2FMBKmo?si=UXW4o4gpvKULGn08
“THE PEASANTS” shows Polish heritage and is based on the Nobel prize Novel by Wladyslaw Reymont and tells the story of the peasants’ lives through famous Polish paintings by greatest Poland’s painters like Józef Chełmoński, Ferdynand Ruszczyc, Leon Wyczółkowski, Aleksander Gierymski, Jan Stanisławski, Julian Fałat, Alfred Wierusz-Kowalski and Apoloniusz Kędzierski, as well as folk music played on traditional instruments. The movie has already been seen and loved by over 1.8 mln Poles (8.2 rating on Filmweb).
This film is based on a novel published in parts between 1904 and 1909 by Władysław Reymont, who was later awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature largely for his book ( “Chłopi”), “The Peasants, ” beating out Thomas Mann, Thomas Hardy and Maxim Gorky for the honor. This movie is an adaptation of Reymont’s epic novel, which is considered the most credible chronicle of peasant society ever written. Movie ‘The Peasants,’ directed and written by DK Welchman (who is Polish) and Hugh Welchman (who is British) is produced in the painting animation technique known from ‘Loving Vincent.” It allowed to create a world, which immerse the audience in Reymont’s action-packed novel, with all the richness of acting creations, as well as to convey the nuances of nature of Poland in XIX century.
The movie was first shot as a feature film, then a group of over 200 artists started the painting animation, often based on Poland’s greatest paintings, which took over 2 years, but even before the painters picked up their brushes and oil paints, the film went through numerous stages of production. One of them was determining one of its most important features—the visual layer.
„The Peasants” draws from a half a century of European painting from the turn of the XIX and XX centuries, from the works of many painters from the period of Young Poland, but also European realism, and even impressionism. In search of inspiration for autumn landscapes and beautiful details, we turned to the creations of Jan Stanisławski. Seeking winter motifs, we drew from the work of Julian Fałat, renowned for his winter landscapes. Winter and nocturnal paintings with wolves by Alfred Wierusz-Kowalski served as an indispensable source of „night colors.” However, it was the ca-nvases of Józef Chełmoński that best fit the style of „The Peasants.” „Indian Summer,” „Storks,” „Storm,” “Partridges” or „Path in the Forest” are absolute classic of Poland’s art are truly ideal for this novel and could not be absent from the film.
By Malgorzata Margo Schulz
The Polish American Congress
National Vice-President for Media and Public Relations
Materials source: Breakthru Productions.
