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Festival Trailer for B&W Film 'The Painted Bird' Premiering in Venice

by Alex Billington
July 28, 2019
Source: YouTube

"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 (Smart Philip, Tobruk), 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.

Here's the festival trailer (+ poster) for Václav Marhoul's The Painted Bird, from YouTube (via Variety):

The Painted Bird Poster

A young Jewish boy somewhere in Eastern Europe seeks refuge during World War II where he encounters many different characters. Václav Marhoul has spent more than a decade writing, producing, directing The Painted Bird. He acquired rights to the novel in 2010, shortly after his 2008 feature Tobruk. First published in 1965, The Painted Bird is a notoriously tough read for the way it depicts the brutality and suffering that the boy experiences and witnesses as he wanders from village to village. Altered forever by his ordeal, he struggles for his soul and future after the war. The Painted Bird is both written and directed by Czech filmmaker Václav Marhoul, director of the films Smart Philip and Tobruk previously. Adapted from the late Polish writer Jerzy Kosinski's classic novel of the same name, first published in 1965. This will premiere at the Venice Film Festival, then play at the Toronto Film Festival this fall. The film is still seeking international distribution, so there's still no release dates set yet. Stay tuned for updates. First impression?

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8 Comments

This looks beautiful. Sad, but beautiful. Hopefully with the bigger named actors involved, it will get a wide release one day. I know, I'm dreaming again.

Charles Knowlton on Jul 28, 2019

I'm sure with time it will get a small NY & LA release, then straight to VOD... But that's probably about it.

Alex Billington on Jul 28, 2019

Indeed, looks fascinating, scary and good. The WWII in Eastern Europe was a horror of its own. Not presented worldwide as some other war sites, but still, it's a devastating piece of history. This one reminds me of that Russian film, Come and See ('Idi i smotri' is original title) from 1985. I hope this one will be something close to that one ...

shiboleth on Jul 28, 2019

It looks bleak and beautiful, I'm glad films like these are being made. I'll watch it if I ever get the chance. Oh, and Barry Pepper is a WWII sniper again? Neat.

Efterklang on Jul 28, 2019

Yes on what you stated and it's a must for anyone serious about films, good intelligent films...we need to get out and see them just for the support of them alone which will hopefully allow more of the same. Man, I crave films like this...even if they don't work for some reason I still crave them and not dissatisfied at their possible failure in the end. After all, these films are attempting something unique and not of the norm and are not easy to do...especially a work by Jerzy Kosinski. I live in L.A. and have already got my eyes out there looking for this to arrive. Cheers!

thespiritbo on Jul 28, 2019

I love the look and feel of this. And I love that the filmmaker wrote, directed and produced... can really feel the passion that went into the making of it. Yes, really want to see this one.

Simone Smith on Jul 29, 2019

Pain. I see pain.

DAVIDPD on Jul 29, 2019

I feel like the visual similarities to Come and See are intentional, but nevertheless there is power in some of these shots they chose for the trailer. I'm excited that it's an adaptation of a Jerzy Kosinski novel, who, I see, wrote Being There (wonderfully adapted by Hal Ashby)... of course, this seems like a different beast, but it's good to have a solid writer as a basis for your film. I'mma keep an eye for this one (also I hope the kid doesn't lose an eye because of the crows, damn).

Terry Craig on Aug 10, 2019

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