Apolonia, Apolonia

"I often thought that it might be time to stop filming. But I continued, a little longer..." we hear Lea Glob say in a voice-over. It was love at first sight for the filmmaker when she met the magnetic Apolonia Sokol in 2009. The latter grew up in the artistic community of the Lavoir Moderne, an avant-garde theatre in Paris founded by her parents. For the director, who grew up in the Danish countryside, filming this bohemian existence was like walking into an urban fairy tale. This fascination lasted for thirteen years, and built an intimate bond between the young Apolonia, who aspires to become an accomplished painter, and her filmmaking alter-ego, who holds up a cinematographic mirror to her protagonist. Just like Glob, who casts a retrospective gaze full of passion and lucidity over the images she accumulated over the course of those years, we are swept away by the devouring energy of the protagonist – who happens to be a close friend of Oksana Shachko, one of the co-founders of Femen – as well as her hopes, weaknesses, frustrations, and her struggle for artistic recognition. Apolonia, Apolonia is the touching portrait of a contemporary woman, whose powerful creativity drives her ceaseless quest for freedom.

Emmanuel Chicon