Hugh Welchman on Golden Derby – watch the insightful interview
Hugh Welchman, co-writer and co-director of “The Peasants” talked with Denton Davidson about the making of the box-office hit film and the Polish contender for an Academy Award nomination. The topics included the ever-looming “threat” of Artificial Intelligence, power of oil-painting and importance of good storytelling. Watch the insightful interview.
Hugh Welchman was a guest of Denton Davidson ot tge Golden Derby website. The host and the guest discussed the fascinating process of making the film, precisely focusing on the animation technique.
“We are H.I., human intelligence and human imperfection” – joked the co-director, pressing against the accusations that the film was made using AI.
Hugh Welchman has much appreciation for the art form of oil painting, which became the medium which he and his co-director, DK Welchman, used to make the film.
“Oil painting is an incredibly sophisticated art form. It’s been honed over for 500 years. Some of the most expensive items in all of history are pieces of art and all of the top 20 are oil paintings. It’s incredibly valued in our culture. My wife specialized in art when she was 14. In Poland they have this system for specially gifted children in arts. She loved oil painting, but she also loved film. She wanted to combine it. It has been done before, but only in short films. That started our adventure in oil painting animation”.
In the later part of the interview, Hugh Welchman talks about the power of Wladyslaw Reymont’s words and the parallels between the beginning of the XXth Century, when the book is set and today’s world.
Be sure to check out the entire interview on the Gold Derby website.
„The Peasants” – a strong contender
The film has been selected as Poland’s official contender for the Best International Film category. Worth adding is the fact that the film’s score has also been submitted to the Best Score category by the composer – Łukasz “L.U.C” Rostkowski.
The film has already received a lot of positive feedback and an array of awards and nominations. It’s been a hit at Polish Film Festival in Gdynia. It has received an Audience Award, alongside the Special Jury award. Main actress, Kamila Urzędowska, who portrays Jagna, has received two awards for her breakthrough performance – Crystal Star Elle and Chopard Loves Cinema – Chopard & W. Kruk Awards during the same event. The Polish film has been screened around the world – most notably during the Special Presentation segment of Toronto International Film Festival, at BFI London Film Festival, Busan Film Festival, Hamptons International Film Festival and Tallin Black Nights Film Festival.
“The Peasants”’ score, composed by Łukasz “L.U.C” Rostkowski has garnered more than 4 millions plays on Spotify alone, and is available on most streaming music sites.