Poland will submit the animated feature drama The Peasants for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards. The movie, which is directed by DK Welchman (previously known as Dorota Kobiela) and Hugh Welchman, is based on Wladyslaw Reymont’s classic 1905 novel about a brave young woman who tries to forge her own path within the confines of a late 19th century Polish village. The married couple’s previous collaboration was the Oscar-nominated 2017 animated feature Loving Vincent.
The Peasants was one of three popular Polish films vying to represent the country at the Oscar race. Agnieszka Holland’s migrant drama Green Border and Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englerts’ transgender drama Woman Of were also strong contenders.
According to producer Ewa Puszczyńska, who headed up the committee, the deliberations were quite heated and the decision was made on the basis of four votes in favor and two against. She told Deadline the votes had come down on the side of The Peasants for the way the co-directors had further pushed the boundaries of animation.
“In the committee’s opinion The Peasants shows the new dynamic in the world of animation, where the camera is not only an observer, but an active participant,” said a statement from the PFI.“The film deals with important and contemporary subjects that are important socially: oppression against women, their dependence or even “belonging” to men, sexual violence and mobbing. It’s a story that will be understood around the world, across borders and political divide”.
The movie, which is produced by BreakThru Productions, will also compete in the Best Animated Feature Oscar race. Anonymous Content Teams and New Europe Film Sales will handle N. American rights. The Peasants premiered as a Special Presentation at Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month. As they had done with Loving Vincent, the co-directors first filmed the movie as a live-action project, and then collaborated with a team of international animators and painters, who worked by hand to paint over film frames and animate the story in an arduous two-year-long process. No U.S. release date has been announced to date.
Hungary has also submitted an animated feature (Aron Gauder’s Four Souls of Coyote) as the country’s official entry in the Oscar race this year. In 2022, Denmark submitted Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Flee as its official entry in the Intl. category.
You can watch the trailer for The Peasants below:
Sources: Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter
