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The film is based on the writer-director’s own novel.

Michael Cowan’s UK-based sales company Phoenix Worldwide Entertainment has acquired international rights, excluding Poland and Italy, to Lech Majewski’s Brigitte Bardot Forever.

Phoenix will introduce the Polish title to international buyers in Cannes as well as festival programmers.

Majewski, whose credits include The Garden of Earthly Delights andThe Mill and the Cross, based the film on his own novel Pilgrimage to the Tomb of Brigitte Bardot the Wonderful, in which he settles accounts with his youth, childhood, and all that Poland meant to him.

Set in mid-century communist Poland,...

Graphic depictions of traumatic violence (eye-gouging with a spoon) and sexual depravity (don’t ask) had a good percentage of the audience sprinting for the exits when The Painted Bird premiered at the Venice Film Festival last year. Now available on demand, this WWII drama may have you running for cover in the privacy of your own home. In adapting Polish author Jerzy Kosiński’s bestseller, Czech writer-director Václav Marhoul spares nothing in showing the atrocities witnessed by a lost, abused and abandoned Jewish boy named Joska (Petr Kotlár), as...

The Painted Bird IFC Films Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net linked from Rotten Tomatoes by: Harvey Karten Director: Vàclav Marhoul Screenwriter: Vàclav Marhoul, from the novel by Jerzy Kosinski Cast: Petr Kotlár Stellan Skarsgård, Harvey Keitel, Barry Pepper, Julian Sands, Udo Kier, Lech Dyblik Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 6/26/20 Opens: July 17, 2020 In […]

The post The Painted Bird Review: An epic drama in sharp black-and-white appeared first on Shockya.com.

"I want to go home!" IFC Films has debuted an official Us trailer for the extra-bleak Czech war drama The Painted Bird, originally titled Nabarvené ptáce in Czechia. This originally premiered at both the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals last fall, and earned mixed reviews, praising the raw intensity of this harrowing war-is-hell feature. Written & directed by Czech filmmaker Václav Marhoul, and adapted from Jerzy Kosinski's novel of the same name, it's about a young Jewish boy wandering around Eastern Europe alone during WWII. The B&w 35mm film is described as an "evocation of wild, primitive Eastern Europe at the bloody close of World War II." The Painted Bird is a dramatic story examining the immediate relationship between terror and cruelty on one side and innocence and love on the other. The film stars Petr Kotlár as The Boy, plus Stellan Skarsgård, Udo Kier, Harvey Keitel, Julian Sands,...

"He endured iniquity from many people." Eureka Entertainment has unveiled an official UK trailer for the Czech war drama The Painted Bird, originally titled Nabarvené ptáce in Czechia. This premiered at both the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals last fall, and is Czechia's official submission to this year's Academy Awards (for last year). Written & directed by Czech filmmaker Václav Marhoul, adapted from Jerzy Kosinski's classic novel of the same name, it's about a young Jewish boy wandering around Eastern Europe alone during WWII. The raw B&w 35mm film is described as an "evocation of wild, primitive Eastern Europe at the bloody close of World War II." The Painted Bird is a deeply dramatic story examining the immediate relationship between terror and cruelty on one side and innocence and love on the other. The film stars Petr Kotlár as The Boy, along with Stellan Skarsgård, Udo Kier, Harvey Keitel,...

IFC Films has acquired the U.S. rights to “The Painted Bird,” a Holocaust drama starring Stellan Skarsgård, Harvey Keitel and Udo Kier that played at Venice and Toronto earlier this year, the distributor announced Tuesday.

“The Painted Bird” is directed, written, and produced by Václav Marhoul and is based on the novel by Jerzy Kosinski. The foreign language drama will be the official Oscar submission from the Czech Republic. IFC Films is planning a theatrical release for 2020.

The film was praised on the festival circuit for its bleak, unsparing look at Holocaust atrocities and evil, but the nearly three-hour saga, all in black and white on 35mm film, also prompted walkouts among moviegoers and split some critics.

Also Read: 'The Painted Bird' Film Review: Jerzy Kosiński Adaptation Is Gruesome, Poetic Epic of Inhumanity

“Marhoul’s film isn’t shy about the steady stream of ugliness, and that...

IFC Films is no stranger to controversial films or awards contenders, and the distributor’s latest acquisition handily ticks both of those boxes. The home of such films as “Boyhood” and “Phoenix” has picked up the U.S. rights to Václav Marhoul’s controversial Holocaust drama, which recently prompted mass audience walkouts during its screenings at both Venice and Tiff. The film, the first ever made in the “invented” Interslavic language, has already been selected as the Czech Republic’s Oscar selection for the Best International Feature Film.

Based on the acclaimed novel by Jerzy Kosinski, the film took Marhoul over a decade to make and is billed as “a meticulous 35mm black and white evocation of wild, primitive Eastern Europe at the bloody close of World War II. The film follows the journey of The Boy, entrusted by his persecuted parents to an elderly foster mother. The old woman soon dies,...

IFC Films has acquired U.S. rights to “The Painted Bird,” the critically acclaimed and controversial adaptation of the Jerzy Kosinski novel. The film will be the Czech Republic’s Oscar entry for the foreign language category at the upcoming Academy Awards.

Directed, written and produced by Václav Marhoul (“Smart Philip”), the film is an unsparing look at the horrors of the Holocaust. Its violence reportedly prompted audience walkouts at the Venice Film Festival and the Toronto Film Festival, but also drew rave reviews for its uncompromising depiction of evil.

In a five star review, the Guardian’s Xan Brooks acknowledged the movie was a tough sit, but added, “I can state without hesitation that this is a monumental piece of work and one I’m deeply glad to have seen. I can also say that I hope to never cross its path again.”

Variety‘s Guy Lodge also praised the film,...

Hard-hitting Venice Film Festival competition movie The Painted Bird has been selected by the Czech Film and Television Academy as the Czech Republic’s international Oscar entry.

Described as an “evocation of wild, primitive Eastern Europe at the bloody close of World War II,” director-producer Václav Marhoul’s black-and-white 35mm Holocaust feature follows the journey of The Boy, entrusted by his persecuted parents to an elderly foster mother. The old woman soon dies and The Boy is on his own, wandering through the countryside, from village to farmhouse. As he struggles for survival, The Boy suffers through extraordinary brutality meted out by the ignorant, superstitious peasants and he witnesses the terrifying violence of the efficient, ruthless soldiers, both Russian and German.

Adapted from the novel of the same name by Jerzy Kosinski (Being There), the dark drama prompted a number of walk-outs at Toronto and Venice due to its tough subject matter.

An epic pastoral horror pitting human savagery against the impossible calm of nature, Czech filmmaker Václav Marhoul’s adaptation of Polish author Jerzy Kosiński’s rattling World War II novel “The Painted Bird” is as bold a play for visceral cinema mastery as we’ve seen of late.

Premiering at the Venice Film Festival to the kind of emotional reactions that can cement a troubling work’s need-to-see reputation, this black-and-white, nearly three-hour saga of a boy navigating the cruelties and caprices of ravaged rural Eastern Europe is not the wallowing miserablist parade you might fear, yet not quite the Holocaust-themed masterpiece it wishes to be. But it’s always starkly compelling as a reminder of why war survival stories are essential to our understanding of innocence and beastliness.

Kosiński’s 1965 book was a litmus test of sorts, first for the unvarnished brutality within its pages. Later it was discovered...

"Come and fetch me." Celluloid Dreams has debuted a promo trailer for an indie film titled The Painted Bird, which is premiering at the Venice Film Festival this fall playing in competition. Written & directed by Czech filmmaker Václav Marhoul, the film is adapted from Jerzy Kosinski's classic novel of the same name, about a young Jewish boy wandering around Eastern Europe alone during WWII. The B&w 35mm film is described as an "evocation of wild, primitive Eastern Europe at the bloody close of World War II." The Painted Bird is a deeply dramatic story examining the immediate relationship between terror and cruelty on one side and innocence and love on the other. Starring Petr Kotlár as The Boy, with a cast including Stellan Skarsgård, Udo Kier, Harvey Keitel, Julian Sands, Lech Dyblik, Aleksey Kravchenko, Petr Vaněk, and Barry Pepper. This looks intense and evocative, a work of cinematic art.

Variety has been given exclusive access to the international trailer for Vaclav Marhoul’s “The Painted Bird,” which world premieres in competition at the Venice Film Festival, and screens at the Toronto Film Festival in the Special Presentations section.

The cast, led by Petr Kotlar, includes Udo Kier, Stellan Skarsgard, Harvey Keitel, Julian Sands, Barry Pepper, Lech Dyblik, Jitka Cvancarova and Aleksey Kravchenko. Celluloid Dreams has world rights to the film, with Celluloid Dreams and CAA Media Finance co-representing the U.S. rights.

The black-and-white 35mm film, based on Jerzy Kosinski’s novel, is described as an “evocation of wild, primitive Eastern Europe at the bloody close of World War II.”

It follows the journey of The Boy, entrusted by his persecuted parents to an elderly foster mother. The old woman soon dies and The Boy is on his own, wandering through the country-side, from village to farmhouse.

As he struggles for survival,...