APOLONIA, APOLONIA

By Lea GLOB

CAT&DOCS - as SALES All rights, World

Documentary - Completed 2022

A portrait of the artist as a young woman. Apolonia is talented, but is that enough to break into the art world? An impressive film that covers 13 years in an anything-but-average life.

Festivals
& Awards

IDFA 2022
International Competition
BFI London FF 2023
Create
    • Year of production
    • 2022
    • Genres
    • Documentary
    • Countries
    • DENMARK, POLAND
    • Languages
    • DANISH, ENGLISH, FRENCH
    • Duration
    • 116 mn
    • Director(s)
    • Lea GLOB
    • Producer(s)
    • Sidsel LØNVIG SIERSTED (Danish Documentary)
    • Synopsis
    • 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.