Let's begin on The Peasants

BreakThru Films, an animation studio known for groundbreaking, artistic and commercially successful animation projects, begins to work on a new film. The Peasants from Dorota Kobiela is based upon the Nobel Prize winning novel by Wladyslaw Reymont depicting life in the countryside at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century.
 
The dramatic drifts of the story tie into the changing seasons, hard labour in the fields and local tradition. In this setting the fate of the Boryna family and young girl Yagna plays out. This beautiful, mysterious woman is an expression of faith in the freedom of the individual, but at the same time she symbolizes the tragedy and rejection that such a person can encounter in a small- scale community. After years of working on a film about Vincent van Gogh I felt a strong need to tell a story about women: to show their struggles and their passion and their strength.  - Dorota Kobiela writer/director.

The Peasants will be produced in the same painting technique that won the hearts of fans around the world with the previous production of the studio - Loving Vincent.

Initially, we will shoot a movie with  actors, and then paint each frame as a separate oil painting. To create the film we will use our self designed PAWS stations (Painting Animation Work Stations), which combine a camera and a projector with a computer and a monitor. Thanks to this technique, it is possible to unify the animation and systematize the work of painters. - explains Tomasz Wochniak, head of the BreakThru Films studio.

The monumental work of Wladyslaw Reymont is filled with picturesque descriptions of nature. It will be brought to life based on the popular Realist/ pre-impressionist genre of paintings from the 19th Century, with an emphasis on the Young Poland Movement. This style perfectly reflects the spirit of the novel. On a big screen you will see interpretations of the works of such artists as Józef Chełmoński, Ferdynand Ruszczyc and Leon Wyczółkowski.

The premiere is planned for 2022.

The Screenwriter and The Director – Dorota Kobiela

A graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Dorota Kobiela was awarded the Minister of Culture scholarship for special achievements in painting and graphics. Simultaneously with attending the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, she joined the Warsaw Film School, Directorial Faculty in 2004.

Dorota Kobiela is the originator, writer, director and editor of the movie Loving Vincent; the world’s first and only fully painted feature film, hand painted by over 100 oil-painting animators. Loving Vincent won Best Animation Feature Film at the European Film Award, the 20th International Shanghai Film Festival, and over 40 other awards around the world. The film was nominated for an Oscar®, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA and made $52m at the global box office. It is the most successful Polish film of all time at the international box office. Dorota is a member of the American, European and Polish Film Academy. She works at the art commission of the Polish Film Institute. She has been professionally associated with the studio Breakthru Films for 10 years.

The Producer – BreakThru Films studio
 
The Peasants is being produced by Breakthru Films (Poland). Founded by Hugh Welchman, BreakThru Films is a prize-winning film and animation production company, based in Gdansk, with offices in Lodz, Warsaw and London. BreakThru established its reputation with its slate of prize-winning shorts which have collected over twenty international awards & nominations, including two BAFTA nominations, an official selection at Cannes, the Annecy Cristal and Annecy Audience awards, Canal+ Prize, TCM prize, the Rose D’ Or as well as an Oscar for Best Short Animation Film for Peter & The Wolf.
 
The latest production of the studio - Loving Vincent won worldwide success and picked up 24 Audience Awards at film festivals, including the coveted Annecy Cristal at the world’s biggest animation festival, and was nominated as best feature animation in the world’s most prestigious award events including The Oscars and the Golden Globes.

 
Breakthru Films - Hugh Welchman (Producer/Co-Writer)

A graduate of Oxford University, the UK's National Film and Television School, Hugh has produced 16 short films and two feature films for his company Breakthru Films, winning over 60 prizes at international festivals, including the 2008 Best Short Animation Oscar for Peter and the Wolf and European Film Award for Loving Vincent.