While films have long been regarded as art, Loving Vincent, a movie being presented at dusk on June 8 at the Albany Museum of Art by the Albany Recreation & Parks Department, takes the art of movie-making to an entirely new level.

The Oscar-nominated film comprises a remarkable 65,000 frames individually hand-painted in oils—a cinematic first.
 
Loving Vincent, which brings the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh to life, will be shown outdoors, projected onto the wall of the AMA. Set to start at sunset—around 8:30 pm—the film is rated PG-13. Admission is free and movie-goers are invited to bring lawn chairs, blankets and tables. Food trucks and a cash wine & beer bar will be available, so no coolers will be permitted.
 
The AMA galleries will reopen at 7:30 pm to give museum guests an opportunity to explore the current exhibitions, which include Glenn Dasher: In Retrospection; Monuments to Human Imperfection and Justin Hodges’ Time Time and a Half. The galleries will remain open until the movie starts.
 
“I’m excited,” said Kristin Caso, marketing and special events coordinator for Recreation & Parks. “If you like Vincent Van Gogh,’ you’ll love this movie. It literally brings his paintings to life.”
 
Officials with the film note that 125 professional artists from across the globe traveled to the Loving Vincent studios in Greece and Poland to be part of the production about the life of one of the world’s most famous and enigmatic artists. His passionate, ill-fated life and mysterious death are as remarkable as his brilliant paintings.
 
“The story of Van Gogh life’s and his mysterious shooting death is as compelling as the unique way it will be presented through fabulous artwork,” Chloe Hinton, education and programming director for the Albany Museum of Art, says.
 
“The film will be beautiful,” Hinton said. “But it also has a great story. Did he kill himself or was he murdered? There is something for everyone in this movie, whether you want to see the wonderful art or follow the tragic life story and Van Gogh’s mysterious death.”
 
Van Gogh’s life has become a thing of legend as he has been described as everything from a layabout and a madman to a martyr and a genius. His own view, as he attested in his final letter, was, “We cannot speak other than by our paintings.” The creators of Loving Vincent took the tragic artist at his word, bringing him to life by enabling his artwork to tell his story on screen.
 
Caso says she has been a Van Gogh fan for as long as she can remember. Her grandmother, an artist, re-created some of his artwork, which Caso grew up looking at in her grandmother’s home. That got her interested in the artist, whose short life was impacted by mental illness..
 
“I’ve loved his artwork all of my life,” Caso said. “I feel bad for him, though. He was such a tortured soul.”
 
Loving Vincent was first shot as a live-action film with actors. It was then hand-painted over in oils, frame by frame. The result is a unique interaction of live performers and painting animators.
 
The film’s production took seven years, with painters spending up to 10 days to paint the dozen frames that make up one second of film presentation time. Each frame was painted on 67-by-49-cm canvas, with the digital stills recorded at 6k resolution with a Canon 6D. The animators, chosen from 5,000 applicants, each underwent 180 hours of training before starting work.
 
Theatre actor Robert Gulaczyk made his film debut as Vincent, with Douglas Booth as Armand Roulin, Eleanor Tomlinson as Adeline Ravoux, Jerome Flynn as Dr. Gachet, Saoirse Ronan as Marguerite Gachet, Chris O’Dowd as Joseph Roulin, John Sessions as Pere Tanguy, Aidan Turner as the boatman and Helen McCrory as Louise Chevalier. Written and directed by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman.
 
Loving Vincent was produced by BreakThru Films and Trademark Films. Run time for Loving Vincent, which opened in the United States in September 2017, is 94 minutes. The film received an Oscar nomination earlier this year for Best Animated Feature Film.