A first of its kind painted feature film of Polish-British origin, Loving Vincent is all set to turn heads at Oscar 2018 in the animated feature category. Written and directed by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman, Loving Vincent is already grabbing attention for its unique storytelling and an intriguing narrative, and had also been nominated for the annual British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards 2018.
A man with hands clasped to a fresh wound of bullet on his belly stumbled in Auvers, on 27 July 1890. This man was Vincent Van Gogh, a world famous artist. The mystery behind his tragic death unfolds in the eccentric Loving Vincent. By bringing to life some of his most inspirational paintings, Loving Vincent explores Gogh’s life and deft artwork whilst also revolving around the mystery behind Gogh’s death.
Being a painter, director Kobiela missed the soulful and contemplative world of painting while working in films. She turned to the letters of Vincent Van Gogh for solace and then emerged the idea to combine film and painting. With a team of 115 painters working on 65,000 oil paintings on 1000 canvas frames, the film was shot with actors, and then painted over it frame by frame. With four years of hard work to develop the technique similar to that of Gogh’s, it took around another two years to complete the film.
With a talented star cast to boast of, the iconic character of Gogh is played by actor Robert Gulaczyk. Other characters personifying the paintings of Gogh are Douglas Booth starring as Armand Roulin, Eleanor Tomlinson as Adeline Ravoux, Jerome Flynn as doctor Paul Gachet, Saoirse Ronan as Marguerite Gachet, Chris O’dowd as postman Joseph Roulin, John Sessions as Pere Tanguy, Aidan Turner as the boatman, Helen Mccrory as Louise Chevalier, James Greene as Old man, Bill Thomas as Dr Mazery, Martin Herdman as Gendarme Rigaumon, Robin Hodges as lieutenant milliet, Josh Burdett as Zouave, Holly Earl as La Mousme and Joe Stuckey as idiot boy.
The winners in the category of animated feature for the ninetieth Oscars will be officially announced on 4 March 2018.
