When Danish filmmaker Lea Glob first met Apolonia Sokol in 2009, she appeared to be leading a storybook life. The talented Apolonia was born in an underground theatre group in Paris and grew up in an artists’ community, the ultimate bohemian life. In her 20s she studied at the Beaux-Arts de Paris, one of the most prestigious art academies in Europe. Over the years, Lea kept returning to film Apolonia as she sought her place in the art world, grappling with the agonies and joys of womanhood, her relationships with others, and her own body and creation. 13 years on, the two women continue to reflect on each other's paths in this mesmerising film about art, love, motherhood, sexuality, representation, and how to succeed in a world dominated by patriarchy, capitalism, and war, without losing oneself.
Content warning: brief nudity
CREW:
Director: Lea Glob
Producer: Sidsel Lønvig Siersted
Cinematographer: Lea Glob
Sound: Anna Żarnecka-Wójcik
Production
Sidsel Siersted for Danish Documentary Production, in co-production with Małgorzata Staroń for Staron Films
Sales:
Awards
Winner of the Dragon Award, Göteborg Film Festival (2023), POLITIKEN:DOX Award at CPH:DOX (2023), Best Film Award at One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival (2023), Grand Prix at Sofia International Film Festival (2023), Golden Firebird Award at Hong Kong International Film Festival (2023), Special Mention at Docville (2023), Grand Prix at Artdocfest (2023), Best Feature-Length Documentary, IDFA Award at Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival (2022), IDFA Award for Best Film at Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival (2022)
Director
Lea Glob
Lea Glob graduated as a director from the National Film School of Denmark in 2011 with the short film Meeting My Father-Kasper Tophat about the directors’ involuntary journey
into a stranger than fiction story of her own origins. 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.
During all those years Glob was following 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.Selected Filmography
Apolonia, Apolonia (2022), Lykketoft og de lejlighedsvist (2017), Venus (2016), Olmo & the Seagull (2015), Mødet med min far Kasper Højhat (2011), Bent Warburg in Bondefanget (2005)
