The Painted Bird

The Painted Bird (Czech: Nabarvené ptáče, Ukrainian: «Пофарбоване пташеня», romanized: Pofarbovane ptashenia, Interslavic: Kolorovana ptica) is a 2019 Czech war drama film written, directed and produced by Václav Marhoul. An adaptation of Jerzy Kosiński's novel of the same name, it is the first film to feature the Interslavic language; Marhoul stated that he decided to use Interslavic so that no Slavic nation would nationally identify with the story. The Painted Bird was selected to play in competition at the 76th Venice International Film Festival and was chosen for 2019 Toronto International Film Festival as part of Special Presentations. The film also screened in the Dare strand at the 63rd BFI London Film Festival. It was selected as the Czech entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards making the December shortlist. Its brutal scenes led to walkouts from audiences at the Venice, Toronto and London film festivals. Nonetheless, the film has received very positive reviews from critics, with many likening it to films by Andrei Tarkovsky. At the 35th Warsaw International Film Festival, the audience honored the film with a long ovation after its only screening. It won Best Director at the Kolkata International Film Festival in 2019.