Distributed by Vertigo Releasing, the film will be shown across the country, including in Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Portsmouth and Milton Keynes.
The film is based on the novel of the same title by Nobel Prize-winning Polish writer Władysław Reymont.
The UK distributor writes that it “portrays the tragic story of a peasant girl, Jagna, forced to marry a much older, wealthy farmer, Boryna, despite her love for his son, Antek. With time, Jagna becomes the object of envy and hate of the villagers and has to fight to preserve her independence.”
The Peasants is the latest offering from the directorial duo of Dorota Kobiela (DK) Welchman and Hugh Welchman, whose Loving Vincent, made in the same technique, won international acclaim several years ago.
The film is Poland’s official entry for Best International Feature Film at the 2024 Academy Awards.
Its soundtrack is also in the running for an Oscar nomination in the Best Original Score category. It features some of Poland’s top pop singers and groups, as well as actors, including Kayah, Ralph Kamiński, Laboratorium Pieśni, Dagadana, Małgorzata Kożuchowska, and Julia Wieniawa, under the baton of Łukasz L.U.C. Rostkowski.
The Peasants has attracted an audience of over 1.5 million since it went on general release in Poland six weeks ago, the greatest box-office success in the Polish film industry since the outbreak of the pandemic in the spring of 2020.
The film’s distribution rights have been sold to over 50 countries, including the United States, where it is slated for release in January.
(mk/gs)