The Painted Bird

Nabarvené ptáče (2019)

Timing: 2:49 (169 min)

7.09/10
144

7.064/10
2057

7.3/10
7278

All about film

Video 5

Photo 39

Actors and characters

Release date

2019-09-12

Country

Slovakia, Czech Republic, Ukraine

Production

Silver Screen, Česká televize, innogy Česká republika, Directory Films, PubRes, RTVS, CertiCon, Monte Rosso Production

Genre

War, Drama, Thriller

Budget

$7 800 000

Revenue

$660 000

Website

http://the-painted-bird.com

Director

Václav Marhoul

Actors

Petr Kotlár, Nina Šunevič, Alla Sokolova, Udo Kier, Michaela Doležalová, Stellan Skarsgård, Harvey Keitel, Julian Sands, Júlia Vidrnáková, Lech Dyblik
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Václav Marhoul

Operator

Vladimír Smutný

Composer

Artist

Audition

Editing

Luděk Hudec
All team (102)

• The film is dubbed in what is known as "Inter-Slavic" – a mixture of several Slavic languages, including Russian, Polish, and Ukrainian.
• The source novel, “The Painted Bird” (1965) by Jerzy Kosinski (1933-1991), was considered quite controversial in the author’s homeland and was even banned for a long time. It was banned when it became clear that the novel was not autobiographical, as the author had initially claimed, and that many of the brutal moments in the narrative, concerning the behavior of Polish peasants, were simply fabricated. Later it became known that Kosinski had added numerous instances from the lives of other people to the novel, including his friend Roman Polanski. And although neither the novel nor the film states that it takes place in Poland (they don't even speak Polish), 16 Polish production companies refused to work on the film; furthermore, Polish distributors also refused to work with it.
• It took director Václav Marhoul 10 years to find funding. Stellan Skarsgård, who had previously been acquainted with Marhoul, was the first to agree to participate in the project. Understanding the difficult financial situation of the filmmakers, Skarsgård requested only 100 euros or $120 as his fee.
• During the film's premiere at the Venice Film Festival in 2019, many viewers got up from their seats and simply left the auditorium, which immediately brought the film notoriety. A journalist from The Guardian subsequently wrote that at least 12 viewers unsuccessfully tried to leave the auditorium, but the doors were locked, and sarcastically added that he would like to see a film about the audience’s reaction to “The Painted Bird”.