Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The world’s first fully painted film,reflecting the life and career of Vincent Van Gogh, will be screened in Vietnamon October 6.

Loving Vincent explores the painter’s life and work by bringing to lifesome of his paintings to tell his story. Husband-and-wife team Dorota Kobielaand Hugh Welchman innovated a filmmaking technique that combined traditionalfilm shooting with painting.

Famous paintings Starry Night, CafeTerrace at Night, Sunflowers, Wheatfield with Crows and hisself-portraits inspired the film and, through the new technique, became itssetting.

Director Kobiela said 125 painters, selected through an audition process,painted over 65,000 film frames on 1,000 canvases.

“We shot the film with actors, and literally painted over it frame by frame,”Kobiela said on the film’s website.

“This is a very laborious and time-consuming process. It has taken us fouryears to develop the technique, and it took us over two years with ateam of 125 painters working at studios in the Polish cities of Gdansk andWroclaw, and a studio in Athens to complete the film.”

The filmmakers said they made the film not to set any records, but because theybelieve only Van Gogh’s paintings can truly tell his story.

“We were inspired by the saying ‘we cannot speak other than by ourpaintings,’ written by Vincent van Gogh in a letter the week before his death,”said Kobiela.

Journey of masterpieces

Loving Vincent won the top prize at the Annecy International AnimationFilm Festival in France in June. The film’s journey began almost ten yearsago when Kobiela set out to make an animated short about Van Gogh.

“I was 30 when I first came up with the idea to do this project, around thesame age Vincent was when he started to paint,” Kobiela said on AnimationMagazine. “More than his paintings, which I do love, it was the example of howVincent lived that inspired me. I have battled with depression all my life, andI was inspired by how strong he was in picking himself up from similarlyterrible life setbacks as a young man, and finding through art, a way to bringbeauty to the world.”

Welchman, who is based in Poland and has produced several well-receivedanimated projects such as the Oscar-winning short Peter & the Wolf (2006)and The Flying Machine (2011), says he became absolutely obsessed with Van Gogh’senigmatic life and phenomenal achievements.

They invited painters from around the world to audition for the film.

MVP Pictures Company bought the copyright and organised the film LovingVincent premiere in Vietnam on October 6. The film opens sooner here thanin the UK (October 13), according to Vu Hai Dang, distribution manager of thecompany.

Dang said the company was impressed by the film during its crowd-funding effortheld in 2014.

“It’s really a daring and inspirational project,” said Dang. “We are impressedby the talent and effort of the crew. The film is a masterpiece about themasterpieces left by Van Gogh. That’s the reason why we try to introduce theindependent film in Vietnam.”

MVP Pictures is the distributor of independent films like Chef, AMonster Calls and Light Between The Oceans.

Dang said the company wants to present Vietnamese audience with goodindependent films beside commercial entertainment films.

“Independent films distributed in Vietnam haven’t enjoyed large audiences likein other countries in the region,” said he.

Vietnamese audiences often enjoy independent films at film festivals or via theInternet. Dang expects that in the near future artistic films like LovingVincent will attract larger audiences.-VNA