“Peasants”. The film’s world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival

– We are glad that the world premiere of “Peasants” will take place at the Toronto International Film Festival. The mission of this festival is “to change the way people see the world through film”, and this philosophy is close to our hearts. “Peasants” is another emotional and aesthetic journey for us, which allowed us to delve into the beauty of the painting animation technique – says Hugh Welchman, co-director and producer of “Peasants” from BreakThru Films studio.

The Toronto Festival will run from September 7-17.

– Thanks to participation in the festival, we have a chance to bring the world closer to Reymont’s amazing novel, which, despite the Nobel Prize for the author, is largely unknown outside Poland. I couldn’t imagine a better place than Toronto to share this epic with foreign audiences for the first time.”

Let us recall that the plot of the novel and the film, presented against the backdrop of changing seasons and seasonal field work, focuses on the fate of the rural Boryn family and the beautiful, mysterious Jagna. It is women, in particular the tragic figure of Jagna, who are at the heart of this story. The unique microcosm of the rural community has become a pretext to tell a universal and incredibly up-to-date story.

The animation “Peasants” is – as the creators promise – the essence of half a century of European painting from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, with an emphasis on the style of Young Poland. Initially, the BreakThru Films studio, responsible for the production, made a film with actors. The next stage of work belonged to over a hundred painters in four studios: in Poland, on Lithuaniain Ukraine and Serbiawho painted oil paintings on canvas frame by frame. So far, artists have devoted over 200,000 hours of work to them. In the next step, the images became keyframes for the film. The animators supplemented the shots painted by the painters to make the whole film smooth and pleasing to the eye.

The “Chłopy” stars Mirosław Baka, Ewa Kasprzyk, Sonia Bohosiewicz, Małgorzata Kożuchowska, Dorota Stalińska, Andrzej Konopka, Maciej Musiał and Julia Wieniawa, among others. Kamila Urzędowska appears in the main role – Jagna.

So far, the film has been sold to over 40 countries, including German (plaion), France (The Jokers), Benelux (Paradiso), South Korea (First Run), China (JL Film), Scandinavia (Another World Entertainment) and Spain (Karma). Negotiations are ongoing with buyers in the UK, North America, Australia and Japan.

The Toronto International Film Festival is one of the most important film events in the world, considered a kind of barometer before the American Oscars. The festival’s main prize – the Grolsch People’s Choice Award, is awarded by the festival audience.

In recent years, it has been awarded to such films as “American Beauty”, “Slumdog Millionaire”, “Captive”, “La la Land”, “Green Bok”, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” or “Nomadland” . All of them later won the most important Oscars.

The Polish premiere of “Peasants” is scheduled for October 13. The first screenings of the film in Poland will take place during the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia. The film takes part in the Main Competition.