Apolonia, Apolonia
Denmark, Poland, France2022documentary116'Iluminacja (2023)
When Danish filmmaker Lea Glob first portrayed Apolonia Sokol in 2009, she appeared to be leading a storybook life. The talented Apolonia was born in an underground theater group in Paris and grew up in an artists’ community—the ultimate bohemian existence. In her 20s, she studied at the Beaux-Arts de Paris, one of the most prestigious art academies in Europe. Over the years, Lea Glob kept returning to film the charismatic Apolonia and a special bond developed between the two young women. The result is a fascinating portrait, spanning 13 years, of a young woman trying to find her place in the art world. Apolonia is confident in her talent, but her path is not always an easy one. Life is not a storybook; one of the lessons Apolonia learns is that women painters have to make more sacrifices and overcome greater obstacles than their male counterparts do. This also applied to the friend she lived with for a long time, Oksana Shachko, one of the founders of the feminist action group Femen. Apolonia’s resilience is put to the test.
- directed by
- Lea Glob
Graduated as a director from The National Film School of Denmark in 2011 with the short film „Meeting my Father Kasper Top-Hat” about the directors’ involuntary journey into a stranger than fiction story of her own origins. Glob co-directed "Olmo & the Seagull" with Petra Costa in 2014. It premiered at Locarno where it won the Young Jury Prize. It also won the Best Nordic Dox Award at CPH:DOX, Best Documentary at the Rio Film Festival, Best Documentary at the Cairo Film Festival, and Best Narrative at the RiverRun International film festival, among others. In 2016 Glob co-directed the feature documentary VENUS together with Mette Carla Albrechtsen about sexuality from a female perspective, which became a moment to share thoughts on sexuality and identity, in an attempt to formulate a language and reclaim the female body. The film premiered in IDFA’s First Appearance Competition and won the audience award in IndieLisboa IIFF. All along those years Glob followed the story of Apolonia Sokol, creating a sort of double sided portrait of the artist as a young woman. "Apolonia, Apolonia" is the director’s first documentary feature as a solo-director.
- cinematography
- Lea Glob
- script
- Lea Glob
- music
- Jonas Struck
- editing
- Andreas Bøggild Monies, Thor Ochsner
- production
- (Danish Documentary Production), (Staroń Film), (HBO Max Central Europe)
- Photo
