APR 04, 2024, 

Polish author Wladyslaw Reymont’s novel, published in parts between 1904 and 1909, has been adapted several times for the screen. 

The latest attempt at turning the Nobel Prize-winning novel into a film was released in 2023 and uses the medium of painted animation.  

The action was first captured on film using live actors. Classically trained artists then used the resulting footage to paint, by hand, reference oil paintings. These were then photographed, with the digital images given to animators to create a sense of motion and movement.

The film’s co-directors are DK Welchman from Poland and Hugh Welchman from the United Kingdom. The married couple are behind the Oscar-nominated Vincent van Gogh biography Loving Vincent (2017), a film which pioneered the use of the slow and painstaking animation technique seen in The Peasants.

The Peasants is set around the turn of the 20th century, in a village in Poland. The young and beautiful Jagna (Kamila Urzedowska) is in love with a married man. The man’s wealthy widower father desires Jagna and marries her, resulting in a union that will bring trouble to the family and the village. 

The animated drama is being screened as part of the Polish Film Showcase, which is co-presented by the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Singapore and The Projector. The showcase opens the eighth edition of the Polish Festival in Singapore, PolandShiok!.