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Loving Vincent: The world’s first fully painted animated film
Loving Vincent is a film based on the life and mysterious death of the 19th Century Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh. This is the first ever feature film to be completely hand-painted.
In modern cinematography, with its ever-increasing use of CGI and post-rendering, cinema-goers are treated to visually impressive films; but less so distinctive ones.
Loving Vincent, a film based on the life and mysterious death of the 19th Century Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh, promises to buck that trend. The trailer for the movie, whose production is being spearheaded by British filmmaker Hugh Welchman and Polish painter Dorota Kobiela, was released earlier this week, and it is stunning.
Watch the trailer here
This is the first ever feature film to be completely hand-painted – so far over 100 artists have collaborated with Kobiela, with the 80-minute-long production requiring an estimated 57,000 meticulously handcrafted frames.
The best part? Unlike earlier dramatisations of the Dutch maestro’s turbulent life, the movie’s source material is his legacy – specifically, 120 of his famous paintings and over 800 letters written to his friends, family and critics. The film is based on “interrogating” these people, especially the subjects of his paintings.
Watch the concept trailer here
The ambitious project is clearly a labour of love for Kobiela, who was inspired in particular by a letter Van Gogh wrote to his brother. “He said we can only speak through our paintings,” she said in an interview with Voice of America, “and these words were very important to me and they were actually the reason we are making this film like this.”
The art style is sensual, gorgeous and evocative, with broad brush strokes and arresting colours, capturing the distinctive art style of the Post-Impressionist genius.
With an Oscar-winning production – Welchman won the 2006 Oscar for Best Animated Short for Peter the Wolf – and boasting talent like Saoirse Ronan, Aiden Turner and Helen McCrory, Loving Vincent promises to be a treat for both art aficionados and laymen alike.
Loving Vincent, which is being produced by BreakThru Films and Trademark Films, has no release date as of yet.
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