How ‘The Peasants’ Used 40,000 Oil Paintings to Make an Animated Movie

In 2017, one of the animated features nominated for the Oscar was “Loving Vincent,” a film about Vincent Van Gogh in which every single frame was painted in oil on canvas. Six years later, that film’s directors — Hugh Welchman and his wife, Dorota Kobiela, who now goes by DK Welchman — have produced another film, “The Peasants,” using the same painstaking technique.

“It’s the slightest form of filmmaking anyone’s ever invented,” Hugh Welchman said. “Incredibly labor-intensive.”

“The Peasants” is one of three animated films submitted in the Oscars Best International Feature Film category, but the only one that also qualified for Best Animated Feature.