Denmark / Poland / France 2022, 116 min, Danish, French and Polish, Hebrew & English subtitles

She was born to bohemian parents in an underground Paris theater and grew up surrounded by artists and revelers. While this romantic upbringing led Apolonia Sokol to become an original artist herself, it did not provide her with an emotional or financial safety net. Danish filmmaker Lea Glob began filming the charismatic Apolonia when they were both still young, and continued to do so for 13 years. The deep friendship between the two women gave Glob access to Apolonia in moments of creative turmoil and emotional upheaval, as well as in her exciting encounters with the world, which sharpened her self-awareness and political consciousness. Apolonia’s story is intertwined with that of Russian feminist activist Oksana Shachko, who found refuge in her home, and with the emotional events in the filmmaker’s own life. The film won the IDFA International Competition.

Previous Festivals: IDFA

Graduated as a director from The National Film School of
Denmark in 2011 with the short film MEETING MY FATHERKASPER
TOPHAT 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.

Production Company: Sidsel Siersted for Danish Documentary Production, Malgorzata Staron for Staron Films
Editing: Andreas Bøggild Monies, Thor Ochsner
Cinematography: Lea Glob
Sound Design: Anna Żarnecka-Wójcik
Music: Jonas Struck

Source: Sidsel Siersted for Danish Documentary Production

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