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

"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):

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?