''Apolonia, Apolonia'' is a 2022

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

directed by Lea Glob. The film is a coming-of-age story of a girl, who finds her place in the art world, narrated through 13 years. The film produced by Danish Documentary Production, HBO Max Central Europe and Staron Film won the IDFA Award for Best Film at the 35th

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) is the world's largest documentary film festival held annually since 1988 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Description IDFA is an independent, international meeting place for audiences ...

in international competition in November 2022. It was one of the 15 finalist films in the December shortlists for Best Documentary Feature at the

96th Academy Awards The 96th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 10, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. During the gala, the AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonl ...

. A Denmark, Poland and France co-production film, it was released in Denmark cinemas on 23 March 2023.

Content

The film follows the journey of

Apolonia Sokol Apolonia Sokol (born 1988, Paris, France) is a French Figurative art, figurative painter. Her work has been widely exhibited in France, Denmark, Belgium and the USA. She is known for her autobiographical approach to painting, using the art of port ...

, a gifted artist who was born in a Parisian underground theater and raised in a vibrant French artistic scene with a group of

bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a f ...

and

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture of the mid-1960s to early 1970s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States and spread to dif ...

s in the 1990s. She got into the

Beaux-Arts de Paris The (), formally the (), is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level fine arts education and training. The art school, which is part of the Paris Sciences et Lettres University, is located on two sites: Saint-G ...

when she was 21. Lea Glob, a Danish filmmaker, met her in France in 2009 and was intrigued by her adventurous life. Lea kept filming Apolonia over the years, as Apolonia tried to carve out her space in the art world and dealt with the challenges and pleasures of being a woman, relating to others, accepting her body and expressing her creativity. After thirteen years, the two women still share their insights on each other's lives in this documentary film about art, love, motherhood, sexuality, representation and how to thrive as a woman in a world ruled by

patriarchy Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of authority are primarily held by men. The term ''patriarchy'' is used both in anthropology to describe a family or clan controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males, and in fem ...

, capitalism and war without losing your identity.

Cast

* Lea Glob * Oksana Shachko * Aleksandra Tlolka * Hervé Breuil

Release

The film had its world premiere on 10 November 2022 at the 35th

in international competition, where it won IDFA Award for Best Film. It was screened at

Thessaloniki Documentary Festival The Thessaloniki Documentary Festival (TDF; ) is an international documentary festival held every March in Thessaloniki, Greece. TDF, founded in 1999, features competition sections and ranks among the world's leading documentary festivals. Since ...

in the first week of March 2023. On 19 March 2023, it was screened at the

Sofia International Film Festival Sofia International Film Festival (SIFF) (Bulgarian language, Bulgarian: ''Международен София Филм Фест, София Филм Фест''), also known as Sofia Film Fest, is an annual film festival in Sofia, capital city of ...

in International Documentary Competition section. The film competed at the

47th Hong Kong International Film Festival The 47th Hong Kong International Film Festival () took place from 30 March to 10 April 2023, both online and in-person in Hong Kong. Soi Cheang was selected as the Filmmaker in Focus for this edition and masterclasses led by Tsai Ming-liang and L ...

in 'Documentary Competition' and won the Firebird Award in April 2023. The film was screened at the

Tribeca Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

in Viewpoints section for its North American premiere on 8 June 2023. The film was also screened at

2023 BFI London Film Festival The 67th BFI London Film Festival was a film festival that took place from 4–15 October 2023. The competition films were announced on 29 August 2023 while the films for the galas and the strands were revealed on 31 August 2023. The juries for th ...

in 'Strand' section under 'Create' theme on 6 October 2023. In January 2024, the North American rights of the film were acquired by Grasshopper Film and Documentary+. The film was released in DCTV’s Firehouse Cinema in New York, and launched on streaming platform DOCUMENTARY+ on January 12, 2024. It will be released in French theaters on 27 March 2024.

Reception

On the review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

website, the film has an approval rating of 88% based on 25 reviews with an average rating of 7.1/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, it has a weighted average score of 77 out of 100 based on 8 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Guy Lodge reviewing at IDFA (Competition), for ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' wrote, "Sokol’s paintings, slightly distorted large-scale portraits of human subjects in eerie states of repose, are striking, but never quite as intriguing as their restless, endlessly self-doubting creator." Marta Bałaga's review in

Cineuropa Cineuropa is an online information portal dedicated to the promotion of European cinema. It publishes daily news, reviews, interviews, and industry reports and maintains a database of information. It is available in four languages: English, Fre ...

wrote, "Glob can’t take her eyes off this woman, whether she is celebrating, breaking down or cutting her own bangs, and the feeling is frankly contagious." Lovia Gyarkye for ''

Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

'' described the film as "A heartfelt reflection on a fitful artistic journey." Gyarkye closing the review wrote, "Apolonia is no longer just a subject but a confidant, and she pulled not only Glob but us, too, into her orbit." Neil Young writing in ''

Screen International ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned '' Broadcast''. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involv ...

'' felt that the film was "The absorbingly intimate portrait of an artist as a young woman over the transformative span of 13 years."

Accolades

Listicle

References

External links

*
''Apolonia, Apolonia''
at CAT&Docs * {{IMDb title, tt22768450
''Apolonia, Apolonia''
at IDFA 2022 films 2022 documentary films 2022 multilingual films French documentary films Danish documentary films Polish documentary films Documentary films about women Best Documentary Robert Award winners Documentary films about painters