 FESTIVALS: * WP IDFA’22 Competition * Docaviv (Tel Aviv, Israel) * Dok.Fest Münich (Germany) * Göteborg International Film Festival (Sweden) * IDFA (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) * Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival (Greece) * Tribeca Film Festival (New York, USA) * One World International Film Festival (Czech Republic) * ZagrebDox (Croatia) * Hong Kong International Film Festival (Hong Kong) * Docville / Fonk (Belgium) * Reykjavik International Film Festival (RIFF) (Iceland) * Biografilm Festival | International Celebration of lives (Bologna, Italy) * Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival (Poland) * Sofia International Film Festival (Bulgaria) * Vilnius International Film Festival (Lithuania) * LuxFilmFest (Luxembourg) * ArtdocFest * CPH:DOX * VISIONS DU RÉEL * BELDOCS * DocEdge NZ * Biografilm * Transilvania AWARDS: * Best Film (Golden Cocai) - 10th Bridge Film Festival, Verona (Italy) The motivation of the Jury was: "Apolonia, Apolonia is a love declaration for life, even when it hasn't any answers. It is a love declaration for art, which never stops making questions. And above all it reminds us that life and art could never survive the one without the other." * Best Nordic Documentary - Göteborg International Film Festival * Baltic Focus Grand Prix - ArtdocFest * Politiken:Dox Award - CPH:DOX * Best Film - One World * Firebird Award - Hong Kong IFF * Grand Prix - Chopin's Nose Award - Millennium Docs Against Gravity * Docville International Competition: Honorable Mention * IDFA Best Film Award International Competition 2022 * One World - International Competition Award * Artdocfest/Riga, Baltic Focus Grand Prix "A beautiful and touching double portrait of two young artists. This is a film that examines the struggle with growing up, art and femininity, renewing our faith in friendship and freedom.” * CPH:DOX Politiken:DOX Award This year’s Politiken:Dox goes to a film that continues to grow and leave its mark and live on in the audience long after the credits have rolled. It has been in the making for more than over 13 years, and along the way it changed both shape and direction, just as the art merged with the artist – both the one who is portrayed and the one who held the camera. It could have turned into nothing, but instead it became a magical, organic portrait of a certain time, of female artists, of the practice of documentary filmmaking, or in short one could even say a portrait of life. Lea Glob’s ‘Apolonia, Apolonia’ is clever, feminist, touching and sprawling documentary filmmaking at its very best.” * Best Documentary - Sofia International Film Festival * GRAND PRIX - Millennium Bank Prize - Millennium Docs Against Gravity The jury consists of Jonas Rasmussen - Danish-French film director, creator of LIVE, Grazyna Torbicka - journalist and film critic and Mehrdad Oskouei - Iranian independent documentary maker. Grand Prix - Millennium Bank Award goes to a film about art, friendship and femininity. Created over 13 years, the movie slowly allows us to discover how the inner lives of the heroine and the director reflect each other. The story shown in the film becomes the story of how having art in our lives can be liberating. Movie is tragic, dramatic and funny yet it never manipulates our emotions. |
Apolonia, Apolonia
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 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. REVIEWS "It may seem like an ambitious prospect for a filmmaker to take “life” and “art” as her stated subject, but that is precisely the feat Lea Glob has pulled off with her tender new documentary, Apolonia, Apolonia. The viewer is getting to know Apolonia deeply – and what a pleasure. " - FILM INQUIRY By Payton McCarty-Simas 
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