GDANSK, Pologne: Vying for an Oscar, “Loving Vincent” is the world’s first animated feature film painted by hand — all 65,000 frames — in the distinct style of Vincent van Gogh.
Centered on a probe into his untimely death, the film was shot on a shoestring budget of $5.5 million (€4.5 million). That is 30 times less than Disney’s “Coco,” one of the film’s four Oscar rivals.
For director Dorota Kobiela, “Loving Vincent” has been a seven-year labor of love combining her twin passions of cinema and painting.
“Van Gogh’s style was perfect for the project; his paintings show all the details of his life, his day-to-day habits, his house, his room, his friends,” Kobiela said ahead of Sunday’s Oscar ceremonies in Los Angeles.
Kobiela and co-director Hugh Welchman already have one Oscar under their belt; their BreakThru Productions film company won an Academy Award in 2008 for the animated short “Peter and the Wolf,” based on the story and music by Sergei Prokofiev.
“We are the underdogs! In our category it’s normally dominated by Disney and Pixar but I have a feeling we might be one of the big upsets this year,” said Welchman, who is also Kobiela’s husband.
After five years of pre-production, it took another two years for 125 artists from around the globe to bring the opus to life under Kobiela’s watchful eye.
Working in a massive studio in Poland’s Baltic port city of Gdansk, they based their oil paintings on scenes initially shot on film with actors.
The film includes representations of van Gogh’s most famous paintings such as “The Starry Night.”
Van Gogh, known for his bold colors and rough, vibrant painting style, is considered one of the most revolutionary painters of the 19th century.
Painting the 93-minute-long movie was a painstaking task.
“The pace of work was very slow, averaging a quarter of a second of the film a day,” said Kobiela, who spent seven years on the project.
A single second of the film represents an average of 12 hand-painted frames.
Each artist completed an average of six paintings a day, amounting to a half-second of the film for simple scenes.
But according to Kobiela, the quality of the hand-painted frames surpasses digital animation, making them well worth the extra effort.
“Often in animation, we have the problem that facial expressions are limited. But in oil painting, we can show even greater expression if the portrait is painted properly,” she said.
“Loving Vincent” explores both van Gogh’s works and his death, widely regarded as a suicide, from a gunshot wound.
Based on an original script by Pole Jacek Dehnel, the film follows Armand Roulin, the son of the postman from Arles who was the subject of several of van Gogh’s paintings.
Doubting van Gogh committed suicide, Armand travels to Paris to find out more about his death.
The artist was only 37 when he died after suffering frequent bouts of mental illness including the infamous episode in which he sliced off part of his left ear.
Five million people have already seen “Loving Vincent” in cinemas across the globe.
Its makers are already thinking about their next project, which could be a horror film based on the disturbing canvases of Spanish painter Francisco Goya.
World’s first hand-painted film vies for an Oscar
World’s first hand-painted film vies for an Oscar
Cambodia takes back looted historic artifacts handled by British art dealer
- The objects were returned under a 2020 agreement between the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the family of the late Douglas Latchford, a British art collector and dealer who allegedly had the items smuggled out of Cambodia
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Cambodian officials on Friday received more than six dozen historic artifacts described as part of the country’s cultural heritage that had been looted during decades of war and instability.
At a ceremony attended by Deputy Prime Minister Hun Many, the 74 items were unveiled at the National Museum in Phnom Penh after their repatriation from the United Kingdom.
The objects were returned under a 2020 agreement between the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the family of the late Douglas Latchford, a British art collector and dealer who allegedly had the items smuggled out of Cambodia.
“This substantial restitution represents one of the most important returns of Khmer cultural heritage in recent years, following major repatriations in 2021 and 2023 from the same collection,” the Culture Ministry said in a statement. “It marks a significant step forward in Cambodia’s continued efforts to recover, preserve, and restore its ancestral legacy for future generations.”
The artifacts were described as dating from the pre-Angkorian period through the height of the Angkor Empire, including “monumental sandstone sculptures, refined bronze works, and significant ritual objects.” The Angkor Empire, which extended from the ninth to the 15th century, is best known for the Angkor Wat archaeological site, the nation’s biggest tourist attraction.
Latchford was a prominent antiquities dealer who allegedly orchestrated an operation to sell looted Cambodian sculptures on the international market.
From 1970 to the 1980s, during Cambodia’s civil wars and the communist Khmer Rouge ‘s brutal reign, organized looting networks sent artifacts to Latchford, who then sold them to Western collectors, dealers, and institutions. These pieces were often physically damaged, having been pried off temple walls or other structures by the looters.
Latchford was indicted in a New York federal court in 2019 on charges including wire fraud and conspiracy. He died in 2020, aged 88, before he could be extradited to face charges.
Cambodia, like neighboring Thailand, has benefited from a trend in recent decades involving the repatriation of art and archaeological treasures. These include ancient Asian artworks as well as pieces lost or stolen during turmoil in places such as Syria, Iraq and Nazi-occupied Europe. New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the prominent institutions that has been returning illegally smuggled art, including to Cambodia.
“The ancient artifacts created and preserved by our ancestors are now being returned to Cambodia, bringing warmth and joy, following the country’s return to peace,” said Hun Many, who is the younger brother of Prime Minister Hun Manet.
