Oscar documentary branch voters can’t be accused of parochialism. They ventured far and wide to select their shortlist of feature documentaries for 2023, tapping films from countries as varied as a U.N. roll call: Ukraine, Uganda, Poland, Denmark, Tunisia, Canada and the United States.
To Kill a Tiger, one of the 15 finalists, unfolds in a village in the Indian state of Jharkhand. Nisha Pahuja, who was born in India and raised in Canada, directed the film about a humble couple who fight for justice after their 13-year-old daughter is sexually assaulted by three men. Before the shortlist was announced, Pahuja wondered whether doc branch members would embrace her documentary. “It’s a Canadian film, but it’s an Indian story,” she said, “and it’s subtitled.”
Pahuja needn’t have worried. Neither subtitles nor remote settings deter today’s documentary branch, whose membership is far less insular than it used to be.
To Kill a Tiger, one of the 15 finalists, unfolds in a village in the Indian state of Jharkhand. Nisha Pahuja, who was born in India and raised in Canada, directed the film about a humble couple who fight for justice after their 13-year-old daughter is sexually assaulted by three men. Before the shortlist was announced, Pahuja wondered whether doc branch members would embrace her documentary. “It’s a Canadian film, but it’s an Indian story,” she said, “and it’s subtitled.”
Pahuja needn’t have worried. Neither subtitles nor remote settings deter today’s documentary branch, whose membership is far less insular than it used to be.
- 1/14/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
The French artist Apolonia Sokol – focus of the Oscar-shortlisted documentary Apolonia, Apolonia – has been compared to the great Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. She concedes there may be a few parallels, beginning with something of a physical resemblance.
“I was joking a little bit about that — the fact that we have the unibrow and the mustache,” Sokol laughs. “Maybe these are similarities.”
On a more substantive level, both artists describe themselves as almost possessed by the creative urge. “I paint because I need to,” Kahlo once said. In the documentary directed by Lea Glob, Sokol comments, “I can’t tell the difference between my identity and my work. But there really is no difference.”
Painter Frida Kahlo (1907-1954), circa 1945.
There’s another parallel between them. “What is so interesting about Frida Kahlo is that she was one of the first artists to actually create her own mythology, her personal mythology, for her paintings.
“I was joking a little bit about that — the fact that we have the unibrow and the mustache,” Sokol laughs. “Maybe these are similarities.”
On a more substantive level, both artists describe themselves as almost possessed by the creative urge. “I paint because I need to,” Kahlo once said. In the documentary directed by Lea Glob, Sokol comments, “I can’t tell the difference between my identity and my work. But there really is no difference.”
Painter Frida Kahlo (1907-1954), circa 1945.
There’s another parallel between them. “What is so interesting about Frida Kahlo is that she was one of the first artists to actually create her own mythology, her personal mythology, for her paintings.
- 1/13/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
The Cinema Eye Honors announced the winners for its documentary films and series competition Friday in Manhattan, with “32 Sounds” taking the honor for outstanding nonfiction feature. Maite Alberdi won outstanding direction for “The Eternal Memory” together with Kaouther Ben Hania for “Four Daughters,” while “Paul T. Goldman” won outstanding nonfiction series.
See all the winners below:
—Outstanding Nonfiction Feature
32 Sounds
Directed by Sam Green
Produced by Josh Penn and Thomas O. Kriegsmann
—Outstanding Direction
Maite Alberdi
The Eternal Memory
Kaouther Ben Hania
Four Daughters
—Outstanding Editing
Michael Harte
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
—Outstanding Production
Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner, Raney Aronson Rath, Derl McCrudden and Vasilisa Stepanenko
20 Days in Mariupol
—Outstanding Cinematography
Ants Tammik
Smoke Sauna Sisterhood
—Outstanding Original Score
Jd Samson
32 Sounds
—Outstanding Sound Design
Mark Mangini
32 Sounds
—Outstanding Visual Design
Thomas Curtis and Sean Pierce
Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
—Outstanding Debut
Kokomo...
See all the winners below:
—Outstanding Nonfiction Feature
32 Sounds
Directed by Sam Green
Produced by Josh Penn and Thomas O. Kriegsmann
—Outstanding Direction
Maite Alberdi
The Eternal Memory
Kaouther Ben Hania
Four Daughters
—Outstanding Editing
Michael Harte
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
—Outstanding Production
Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner, Raney Aronson Rath, Derl McCrudden and Vasilisa Stepanenko
20 Days in Mariupol
—Outstanding Cinematography
Ants Tammik
Smoke Sauna Sisterhood
—Outstanding Original Score
Jd Samson
32 Sounds
—Outstanding Sound Design
Mark Mangini
32 Sounds
—Outstanding Visual Design
Thomas Curtis and Sean Pierce
Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
—Outstanding Debut
Kokomo...
- 1/13/2024
- by Jazz Tangcay, Caroline Brew, Jaden Thompson and Diego Ramos Bechara
- Variety Film + TV
Danish filmmaker Lea Glob spent 13 years documenting French artist Apolonia Sokol. In that time, both women experienced joy and heartbreaking, all captured in Glob’s acclaimed documentary “Apolonia, Apolonia.” The film is on the shortlist for Best Documentary Feature at the 96th Academy Awards. In an exclusive video chat with Gold Derby (watch above), Glob explains why the film was so important to her: “In terms of what was important for me to capture and bring to an audience was that I had never really seen the struggle of a female artist.”
The film chronicles the French-born Sokol from her schooling to her ascent in the art world, where over time she becomes one of the most lauded artists of her generation. Also included in the film is Glob’s relationship with Sokol, as well as the director’s own health struggles after she almost died giving birth. The film...
The film chronicles the French-born Sokol from her schooling to her ascent in the art world, where over time she becomes one of the most lauded artists of her generation. Also included in the film is Glob’s relationship with Sokol, as well as the director’s own health struggles after she almost died giving birth. The film...
- 1/12/2024
- by Tony Ruiz
- Gold Derby
Exclusive: Grasshopper Film and streaming platform Documentary+ have acquired North American rights to the Oscar-shortlisted feature Apolonia, Apolonia, a deal announced as the nomination voting window opens for the 96th Academy Awards.
Grasshopper will release the film theatrically Friday at Dctv’s Firehouse Cinema in New York, “with a launch on Documentary+ following all other traditional windows,” according to a release.
The film directed by Lea Glob documents the life of French painter Apolonia Sokol over a 13-year period, examining her attempt to maintain artistic integrity in an art world — and culture — where patriarchy privileges the male gaze over the female.
Apolonia Sokol
“The result is a moving meditation on friendship, personal and creative fulfillment, and both the liberation and limitations of the female body,” the release noted. “Over the years, both Sokol and Glob see again and again that the road to artistic achievement is not an easy or...
Grasshopper will release the film theatrically Friday at Dctv’s Firehouse Cinema in New York, “with a launch on Documentary+ following all other traditional windows,” according to a release.
The film directed by Lea Glob documents the life of French painter Apolonia Sokol over a 13-year period, examining her attempt to maintain artistic integrity in an art world — and culture — where patriarchy privileges the male gaze over the female.
Apolonia Sokol
“The result is a moving meditation on friendship, personal and creative fulfillment, and both the liberation and limitations of the female body,” the release noted. “Over the years, both Sokol and Glob see again and again that the road to artistic achievement is not an easy or...
- 1/11/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
When we first meet French figurative painter Apolonia Sokol, she’s getting ready for her 26th birthday. Her face is reflected in both the bathroom mirror where she’s cutting her bangs and in the camera of Danish filmmaker Lea Glob.
It’s this exact kind of fun house-twisting, telephone-style portrait of the artist that makes up most of the frustratingly oblique documentary “Apolonia, Apolonia.” Although Glob aims for an intimate portrait, her zoom is almost too close, her narration too navel-gazingly shallow, which results in a doc that often remains distant and distorted through these multiple lenses.
The women first met three years earlier when Glob was assigned to make a filmed “portrait of a person.” She’d heard of Apolonia’s storied, Bohemian upbringing inside her parents’ underground theatre in Paris. Apolonia first turns the camera on Glob, who blushes instantly. When the filmmaker turns her camera back on Apolonia,...
It’s this exact kind of fun house-twisting, telephone-style portrait of the artist that makes up most of the frustratingly oblique documentary “Apolonia, Apolonia.” Although Glob aims for an intimate portrait, her zoom is almost too close, her narration too navel-gazingly shallow, which results in a doc that often remains distant and distorted through these multiple lenses.
The women first met three years earlier when Glob was assigned to make a filmed “portrait of a person.” She’d heard of Apolonia’s storied, Bohemian upbringing inside her parents’ underground theatre in Paris. Apolonia first turns the camera on Glob, who blushes instantly. When the filmmaker turns her camera back on Apolonia,...
- 1/11/2024
- by Marya E. Gates
- Indiewire
For every creatively talented individual who becomes famous – often struggling to afford the basics of life despite that – there are a hundred more who succeed in making a living but, in order to do so, devote their skills to work so routine and unchallenging that it does nothing to reveal what they’re really capable of. It’s easy to get trapped in that situation, having no time or energy left to create things that really matter, but sometimes food and rent have to come first. “Why buy the art when you can buy the artist?” asks director Lea Glob in this slow burning, highly personal documentary, as she watches young painter Apolonia Sokol give herself over to a commission for ten pieces per month.
This is just part of Apolonia’s story but, coming early in the film, it puts all the rest into perspective. Glob confesses that she initially thought.
This is just part of Apolonia’s story but, coming early in the film, it puts all the rest into perspective. Glob confesses that she initially thought.
- 1/11/2024
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
We don’t want to overwhelm you, but while you’re catching up with our top 50 films of 2023, more cinematic greatness awaits in 2024. Ahead of our 100 most-anticipated films (all of which have yet to premiere), we’re highlighting 30 titles we’ve enjoyed on the festival circuit this last year that either have confirmed 2024 release dates or await a debut date from its distributor. There’s also a handful of films seeking distribution that we hope will arrive in the next 12 months, as can be seen here.
As an additional note, a number of 2023 films that had one-week qualifying runs will also get expanded releases in 2023, including Origin (Jan. 19), Tótem (Jan. 26), Perfect Days (Feb. 7), The Taste of Things (Feb. 9), About Dry Grasses (Feb. 23), Shayda (March 1), La Chimera (March 29), and Robot Dreams.
The Settlers (Felipe Gálvez; Jan. 12)
The barbaric, bloody sins of the past come to define what entities govern certain land today,...
As an additional note, a number of 2023 films that had one-week qualifying runs will also get expanded releases in 2023, including Origin (Jan. 19), Tótem (Jan. 26), Perfect Days (Feb. 7), The Taste of Things (Feb. 9), About Dry Grasses (Feb. 23), Shayda (March 1), La Chimera (March 29), and Robot Dreams.
The Settlers (Felipe Gálvez; Jan. 12)
The barbaric, bloody sins of the past come to define what entities govern certain land today,...
- 1/3/2024
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Happy New Year! As we continue to wrap up 2023 in cinema, we’re also looking toward what awaits in 2024. Ahead of more expansive 2024 previews, we’re taking an in-depth look at this first month of the year. We should also note that a batch of December favorites will continue to expand, including All of Us Strangers, The Zone of Interest, The Sweet East, and American Fiction.
10. Mambar Pierrette (Rosine Mbakam; Jan. 26)
A selection from Cannes, NYFF, and TIFF, Rosine Mbakam’s narrative feature debut will begin its U.S. run at Anthology Film Archives this month. Edward Frumkin said in his NYFF review, “Cameroonian filmmaker Rosine Mbakam uses familiar spaces as microcosms of society. After capturing her subjects in one setting, such as a mall in Chez Jolie Coiffure (2018) and the protagonist’s home in Delphine’s Prayers (2021), her narrative-feature debut Mambar Pierrette foregrounds the eponymous tailor and love for...
10. Mambar Pierrette (Rosine Mbakam; Jan. 26)
A selection from Cannes, NYFF, and TIFF, Rosine Mbakam’s narrative feature debut will begin its U.S. run at Anthology Film Archives this month. Edward Frumkin said in his NYFF review, “Cameroonian filmmaker Rosine Mbakam uses familiar spaces as microcosms of society. After capturing her subjects in one setting, such as a mall in Chez Jolie Coiffure (2018) and the protagonist’s home in Delphine’s Prayers (2021), her narrative-feature debut Mambar Pierrette foregrounds the eponymous tailor and love for...
- 1/2/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
By one measure, 2023 was a very tough year in documentary. The first indications of what lay ahead came in January at Sundance, where the usual panoply of films entered the arena in hopes of earning awards and the ultimate prize – distribution.
But streamers and other major distributors showed no inclination to loosen their purse strings and many acclaimed Sundance titles languished for months without distribution deals – King Coal, Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, The Disappearance of Shere Hite among them. Bad Press never did get a distribution deal. Netflix, after spending handsomely at Sundance in recent years, didn’t buy any docs at the festival (it did acquire American Symphony at Telluride).
As the year advanced, the acquisition pace remained sluggish and smaller distributors found themselves in a buyer’s market, landing films that in previous years would have gone to bigger entities. On the continuum of feast and famine,...
But streamers and other major distributors showed no inclination to loosen their purse strings and many acclaimed Sundance titles languished for months without distribution deals – King Coal, Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, The Disappearance of Shere Hite among them. Bad Press never did get a distribution deal. Netflix, after spending handsomely at Sundance in recent years, didn’t buy any docs at the festival (it did acquire American Symphony at Telluride).
As the year advanced, the acquisition pace remained sluggish and smaller distributors found themselves in a buyer’s market, landing films that in previous years would have gone to bigger entities. On the continuum of feast and famine,...
- 1/1/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
There’s a hypnotic quality to Apolonia Sokol, the Parisian artist and star of the Oscar-contending documentary Apolonia, Apolonia.
The word “star” is used advisedly: Apolonia captivates the attention – especially in moments of stillness — as effortlessly as an icon of cinema. Her presence transfixes, even when she’s looking off camera. Such is the mystery of personality.
Danish director Lea Glob (pronounced Globe) was a film student when she first met Apolonia in person; the setting – Paris, 2009. Their initial encounter took on a vaguely fairytale character.
“She told me ‘Just come to this address, 35 rue Lyon and call my name,’” Glob recalls. I’m like, ‘Okay, is there a buzzer or something? Could we…?’ ‘No, just call my name — twice — and I will let you in.’ So I found myself — very stupid with ‘film school’ written all over my equipment… She would put herself into a theater play constantly like this.
The word “star” is used advisedly: Apolonia captivates the attention – especially in moments of stillness — as effortlessly as an icon of cinema. Her presence transfixes, even when she’s looking off camera. Such is the mystery of personality.
Danish director Lea Glob (pronounced Globe) was a film student when she first met Apolonia in person; the setting – Paris, 2009. Their initial encounter took on a vaguely fairytale character.
“She told me ‘Just come to this address, 35 rue Lyon and call my name,’” Glob recalls. I’m like, ‘Okay, is there a buzzer or something? Could we…?’ ‘No, just call my name — twice — and I will let you in.’ So I found myself — very stupid with ‘film school’ written all over my equipment… She would put herself into a theater play constantly like this.
- 12/13/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Following, in intimate detail, the making of an art star in her early days, Lea Glob’s Apolonia, Apolonia is a powerful meditation on art and evolution. At one early point in the film, reflecting on a new work, Apolonia Sokol speaks directly to the camera, telling us that with “identity and work, there is no difference.” While some films about artists start capturing their subject much later in life, Glob’s picture is a work of serendipity, keeping praise largely in the moment. There are no talking heads or curators to provide context, just the filmmaker and Glob narrating most of the film with the tone of a bedtime story, as if she’s telling her daughter about this mythical time and figure in her life.
Linking her story with that of her subject, Glob observes Apolonia’s progress from a young woman living with her family in Lavoir...
Linking her story with that of her subject, Glob observes Apolonia’s progress from a young woman living with her family in Lavoir...
- 11/29/2023
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
Lea Glob’s documentary Apolonia, Apolonia earned a leading four nominations today as the IDA Documentary Awards revealed its nominees for the 39th edition of the prestigious event.
Following closely with three nominations apiece were The Mother of All Lies, directed by Asmae El Moudir, and Milisuthando, directed by Milisuthando Bongela.
Apolonia, Apolonia, a personal exploration into the life and work of French artist Apolonia Sokol filmed over the course of 13 years, will compete for Best Documentary Feature, Best Director, Best Writing, and Best Editing. Glob’s film won the top prize at IDFA, where it debuted last November, going on to win awards at Cph:dox in Copenhagen, the Hong Kong International Film Festival, and the Sofia International Film Festival, among others. Despite its many laurels, the film has yet to land a U.S. distributor.
‘The Mother of All Lies’
The Mother of All Lies earned nominations as Best Documentary Feature,...
Following closely with three nominations apiece were The Mother of All Lies, directed by Asmae El Moudir, and Milisuthando, directed by Milisuthando Bongela.
Apolonia, Apolonia, a personal exploration into the life and work of French artist Apolonia Sokol filmed over the course of 13 years, will compete for Best Documentary Feature, Best Director, Best Writing, and Best Editing. Glob’s film won the top prize at IDFA, where it debuted last November, going on to win awards at Cph:dox in Copenhagen, the Hong Kong International Film Festival, and the Sofia International Film Festival, among others. Despite its many laurels, the film has yet to land a U.S. distributor.
‘The Mother of All Lies’
The Mother of All Lies earned nominations as Best Documentary Feature,...
- 11/21/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
The hypocrisies of the art world are exposed in this epic undertaking that sees the development of both the film’s subject and its director
Filmed over the course of 13 years, Lea Glob’s dynamic and intimate portrait of figurative painter Apolonia Sokol also charts the twin evolution of two women: the one in front of the camera and the one behind it. Having grown up in a bohemian Parisian theatre founded by her parents, Sokol seems destined to make her name as an artist, though her journey to recognition is far from rosy.
A graduate from the ultra prestigious École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Sokol however carries a more underground sensibility. When threatened with eviction, she turned the run-down theatre – her childhood home – into a haven for performers and activists. Her large-scale paintings of friends and acquaintances show them in a state of repose, yet Sokol’s energy is anything but placid.
Filmed over the course of 13 years, Lea Glob’s dynamic and intimate portrait of figurative painter Apolonia Sokol also charts the twin evolution of two women: the one in front of the camera and the one behind it. Having grown up in a bohemian Parisian theatre founded by her parents, Sokol seems destined to make her name as an artist, though her journey to recognition is far from rosy.
A graduate from the ultra prestigious École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Sokol however carries a more underground sensibility. When threatened with eviction, she turned the run-down theatre – her childhood home – into a haven for performers and activists. Her large-scale paintings of friends and acquaintances show them in a state of repose, yet Sokol’s energy is anything but placid.
- 10/30/2023
- by Phuong Le
- The Guardian - Film News
The 2023 Cinema Eye Honors have unveiled the 20 titles for its Audience Choice Prize Long List, with voting now open.
The 17th annual awards ceremony also recognized the best nonfiction and documentary films and series across five Broadcast categories and a Shorts List with 10 of the year’s top documentary short films, as well as the 20 films in the running for the Audience Choice Prize Long List.
This year’s list includes films from Cinema Eye Honors alumni including “The Eternal Memory,” “American Symphony,” “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” “Stamped from the Beginning,” “32 Sounds,” “A Compassionate Spy,” “Confessions of a Good Samaritan,” “The Mission,” “The Pigeon Tunnel,” and “Stephen Curry: Underrated.”
Hulu series “The 1619 Project” and Showtime’s “Nothing Lasts Forever” lead the Broadcast Film and Series nominations with three nods each. The “1619 Project,” adapted from Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones’s work with The New...
The 17th annual awards ceremony also recognized the best nonfiction and documentary films and series across five Broadcast categories and a Shorts List with 10 of the year’s top documentary short films, as well as the 20 films in the running for the Audience Choice Prize Long List.
This year’s list includes films from Cinema Eye Honors alumni including “The Eternal Memory,” “American Symphony,” “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” “Stamped from the Beginning,” “32 Sounds,” “A Compassionate Spy,” “Confessions of a Good Samaritan,” “The Mission,” “The Pigeon Tunnel,” and “Stephen Curry: Underrated.”
Hulu series “The 1619 Project” and Showtime’s “Nothing Lasts Forever” lead the Broadcast Film and Series nominations with three nods each. The “1619 Project,” adapted from Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones’s work with The New...
- 10/19/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
The 19th edition of the Camden Intl. Film Festival, kicking off Sept. 14, will feature a handful of award-contending documentaries fresh off showings at Toronto, Sundance, South by Southwest, Berlin and Tribeca film festivals. The Maine-based film festival will unfold in a hybrid format, with both in-person events over a four-day period concluding Sept. 17, and online screenings available from Sept. 18 to Sept. 25 to audiences across the U.S.
This year’s Ciff highlights include the U.S. premiere of Oscar-winning director, Alex Gibney’s “In Restless Dreams: The Music Of Paul Simon,” a portrait docu about the songwriter; Oscar-nominated director Raoul Peck’s “Silver Dollar Road,” a documentary about a Black family’s decades-long fight to maintain waterfront land in North Carolina they’ve rightfully owned for generations against corrupt developers; Errol Morris’ “The Pigeon Tunnel,” an inventive interview with spy novelist John le Carré; and Oscar nominee Karim Amer’s “Defiant,...
This year’s Ciff highlights include the U.S. premiere of Oscar-winning director, Alex Gibney’s “In Restless Dreams: The Music Of Paul Simon,” a portrait docu about the songwriter; Oscar-nominated director Raoul Peck’s “Silver Dollar Road,” a documentary about a Black family’s decades-long fight to maintain waterfront land in North Carolina they’ve rightfully owned for generations against corrupt developers; Errol Morris’ “The Pigeon Tunnel,” an inventive interview with spy novelist John le Carré; and Oscar nominee Karim Amer’s “Defiant,...
- 8/22/2023
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Premiering in international competition at last year’s IDFA, where it took top prize, Lea Glob’s (2015’s Olmo and The Seagull) Apolonia, Apolonia is an intense character study of French figurative painter Apolonia Sokol. The Danish director met the artist, who is of Danish and Polish descent, while searching for the protagonist of her first doc while attending the Danish Film School, and then trailed her for the next 13 years. And while the bohemian free spirit, who was raised in a Paris underground theater founded by her eccentric parents (an old VHS tape Apolonia discovers comes with the written warning not […]
The post “This Work is a Product of Survival”: Lea Glob on Tribeca 2023 Premiere Apolonia, Apolonia first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “This Work is a Product of Survival”: Lea Glob on Tribeca 2023 Premiere Apolonia, Apolonia first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 6/10/2023
- by Lauren Wissot
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Premiering in international competition at last year’s IDFA, where it took top prize, Lea Glob’s (2015’s Olmo and The Seagull) Apolonia, Apolonia is an intense character study of French figurative painter Apolonia Sokol. The Danish director met the artist, who is of Danish and Polish descent, while searching for the protagonist of her first doc while attending the Danish Film School, and then trailed her for the next 13 years. And while the bohemian free spirit, who was raised in a Paris underground theater founded by her eccentric parents (an old VHS tape Apolonia discovers comes with the written warning not […]
The post “This Work is a Product of Survival”: Lea Glob on Tribeca 2023 Premiere Apolonia, Apolonia first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “This Work is a Product of Survival”: Lea Glob on Tribeca 2023 Premiere Apolonia, Apolonia first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 6/10/2023
- by Lauren Wissot
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Stonewalling, co-directed by Huang Ji and Otsuka Ryuji, was the big winner at Hong Kong International Film Festival (Hkiff), taking home three prizes including best film in the Young Cinema Competition (Chinese Language) of the Firebird Awards.
While Hkiff did manage to hold some postponed, but in-theatre, editions during the pandemic, this year was the first time the festival had been able to welcome overseas guests after Hong Kong dropped it strict Covid quarantine requirements towards the end of last year. The festival wraps today (April 10) and held its awards ceremony with a screening of closing film, Cheuk Wan-chi’s Vital Sign, last night.
Part of a trilogy that focuses on the struggles of young women in contemporary China, Stonewalling also won best actress, which was shared by its two female leads, Huang Xiaoxiong and Yao Honggui, playing mother and daughter, and also picked up the Fipresci prize.
The Hkiff...
While Hkiff did manage to hold some postponed, but in-theatre, editions during the pandemic, this year was the first time the festival had been able to welcome overseas guests after Hong Kong dropped it strict Covid quarantine requirements towards the end of last year. The festival wraps today (April 10) and held its awards ceremony with a screening of closing film, Cheuk Wan-chi’s Vital Sign, last night.
Part of a trilogy that focuses on the struggles of young women in contemporary China, Stonewalling also won best actress, which was shared by its two female leads, Huang Xiaoxiong and Yao Honggui, playing mother and daughter, and also picked up the Fipresci prize.
The Hkiff...
- 4/10/2023
- by Liz Shackleton
- Deadline Film + TV
The top Dox:Award at Cph:dox, the Copenhagen documentary festival, has gone to “Motherland” by Ukrainian-Belarussian director Alexander Mihalkovich (“My Granny From Mars”) and Ukrainian director Hanna Badziaka.
Described by Variety as “an ominous portrait of the oppressive culture of cruelty in post-Soviet Belarus,” the film follows Svetlana, whose son died during his military service as the result of violent abuse, in her quest to expose and prosecute those responsible for his death.
Dedicating the award to “all the Ukrainians fighting Russian aggression and to Belarussian political prisoners,” the directing duo thanked all those who helped them make the film, in particular the protagonists, “who were brave to stand in front of the camera and patient with us as it was a long journey of four years.”
Handing out the prize, the jury said: “This was such a cinematic and meaningful film that took its time unfolding the complexity of living...
Described by Variety as “an ominous portrait of the oppressive culture of cruelty in post-Soviet Belarus,” the film follows Svetlana, whose son died during his military service as the result of violent abuse, in her quest to expose and prosecute those responsible for his death.
Dedicating the award to “all the Ukrainians fighting Russian aggression and to Belarussian political prisoners,” the directing duo thanked all those who helped them make the film, in particular the protagonists, “who were brave to stand in front of the camera and patient with us as it was a long journey of four years.”
Handing out the prize, the jury said: “This was such a cinematic and meaningful film that took its time unfolding the complexity of living...
- 3/24/2023
- by Lise Pedersen
- Variety Film + TV
The award comes with 38,000, making it one of the world’s largest film prizes.
Goteborg’s lucrative Dragon Award for best Nordic film has gone to Danish director Malou Reymann’s second feature Unruly.
The drama premiered at Toronto and had its Swedish premiere at Goteborg. TrustNordisk handles sales and the Danish cinema release is planned for spring 2023.
Reymann previously directed Rotterdam Big Screen winner A Perfectly Normal Family.
Unruly is about the Sprogø Women’s Institution in the 1930s, when “morally feeble” girls and women were sent to the island to become more compliant. The story focuses on Maren,...
Goteborg’s lucrative Dragon Award for best Nordic film has gone to Danish director Malou Reymann’s second feature Unruly.
The drama premiered at Toronto and had its Swedish premiere at Goteborg. TrustNordisk handles sales and the Danish cinema release is planned for spring 2023.
Reymann previously directed Rotterdam Big Screen winner A Perfectly Normal Family.
Unruly is about the Sprogø Women’s Institution in the 1930s, when “morally feeble” girls and women were sent to the island to become more compliant. The story focuses on Maren,...
- 2/6/2023
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
Click here to read the full article.
Lea Glob’s documentary Apolonia, Apolonia, a 13-year portrait of Paris-born painter Apolonia Sokol, has won best film at the 2022 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), the world’s largest documentary film fest.
The honor, announced at an awards ceremony in Amsterdam on Thursday night, comes with a €15,000 (15,000) cash prize.
The Danish director stitched her doc together from multiple meetings over the years with Sokol, as she traced the artist’s development and reflects on her personal and professional obsessions, including art, love, motherhood, sexuality, queerness, capitalism and the patriarchy.
The best film prize in the IDFA’s Envision Competition section, and its 15,000 cash prize, went to Angie Vinchito’s Manifesto, a found-footage doc compiled from videos Russian teenagers posted on social media.
IDFA’s best director honor in the international category, and a €5,000 (5,200) cash prize, went to Simon Chambers for Much Ado About Dying,...
Lea Glob’s documentary Apolonia, Apolonia, a 13-year portrait of Paris-born painter Apolonia Sokol, has won best film at the 2022 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), the world’s largest documentary film fest.
The honor, announced at an awards ceremony in Amsterdam on Thursday night, comes with a €15,000 (15,000) cash prize.
The Danish director stitched her doc together from multiple meetings over the years with Sokol, as she traced the artist’s development and reflects on her personal and professional obsessions, including art, love, motherhood, sexuality, queerness, capitalism and the patriarchy.
The best film prize in the IDFA’s Envision Competition section, and its 15,000 cash prize, went to Angie Vinchito’s Manifesto, a found-footage doc compiled from videos Russian teenagers posted on social media.
IDFA’s best director honor in the international category, and a €5,000 (5,200) cash prize, went to Simon Chambers for Much Ado About Dying,...
- 11/17/2022
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Festival continues through Sunday.
Danish director Lea Glob’s Apolonia, Apolonia has won best film in the international competition at the 35th edition of International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), running 9-20 November.
The award,which comes with a €15,000 euro cash prize, was confirmed on Thursday evening in a ceremony at Ita (International Theatre Amsterdam) that was streamed live.
Apolonia, Apolonia, backed by HBO Max and Arte and sold by Cat&Docs, follows brilliant young artist Apolonia Sokol over a period of 13 years. It was produced by Sidsel Siersted for Danish Documentary Production.
“This film has characters who breathe life and take us on a journey,...
Danish director Lea Glob’s Apolonia, Apolonia has won best film in the international competition at the 35th edition of International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), running 9-20 November.
The award,which comes with a €15,000 euro cash prize, was confirmed on Thursday evening in a ceremony at Ita (International Theatre Amsterdam) that was streamed live.
Apolonia, Apolonia, backed by HBO Max and Arte and sold by Cat&Docs, follows brilliant young artist Apolonia Sokol over a period of 13 years. It was produced by Sidsel Siersted for Danish Documentary Production.
“This film has characters who breathe life and take us on a journey,...
- 11/17/2022
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
Lea Glob’s documentary Apolonia, Apolonia, about the Paris-born painter Apolonia Sokol, earned Best Film in international competition as the IDFA awards ceremony unfolded in Amsterdam tonight.
The prestigious honor comes with a €15,000 cash prize. Announcing the award, the five-member jury noted, “This film has characters who breathe life and take us on a journey, opening us up to the worlds of culture and art, of business and politics, of the mechanics of a success story. It is infused with love.”
Glob has been following Soko’s career for well over a decade. According to the Villa Medici website, the figurative painter is “known for her political stance on the art of portraiture, claiming the need to use it as a tool of empowerment and deconstruction of marginalization or domination. That is why she addresses multiple issues such as feminisms, queerness, women’s representation throughout art history and body politics in general.
The prestigious honor comes with a €15,000 cash prize. Announcing the award, the five-member jury noted, “This film has characters who breathe life and take us on a journey, opening us up to the worlds of culture and art, of business and politics, of the mechanics of a success story. It is infused with love.”
Glob has been following Soko’s career for well over a decade. According to the Villa Medici website, the figurative painter is “known for her political stance on the art of portraiture, claiming the need to use it as a tool of empowerment and deconstruction of marginalization or domination. That is why she addresses multiple issues such as feminisms, queerness, women’s representation throughout art history and body politics in general.
- 11/17/2022
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Lea Glob’s documentary “Apolonia, Apolonia,” depicting French figurative painter Apolonia Sokol over the course of 13 years, has won the best film award in the International Competition section as well as €15,000 at documentary film festival IDFA in Amsterdam.
The coming-of-age story with Bohemian Paris as its backdrop was pitched at IDFA Forum back in 2015. In his Variety review for “Apolonia, Apolonia” Guy Lodge described the docu as “an impressively idiosyncratic, far-reaching work, assured of further festival play and specialist arthouse attention.” The film is a co-production between Denmark, Poland and France.
This marks the third time that Glob, a Danish director, has been at IDFA with a docu.
Glob’s “Olmo & the Seagull” which she co-directed with Petra Costa screened at IDFA 2015, while “Venus,” which was co-directed with Mette Carla Albrechtse, made its world premiere at IDFA in 2016.
“(‘Apolonia, Apolonia’) has characters who breathe life and take us on a journey,...
The coming-of-age story with Bohemian Paris as its backdrop was pitched at IDFA Forum back in 2015. In his Variety review for “Apolonia, Apolonia” Guy Lodge described the docu as “an impressively idiosyncratic, far-reaching work, assured of further festival play and specialist arthouse attention.” The film is a co-production between Denmark, Poland and France.
This marks the third time that Glob, a Danish director, has been at IDFA with a docu.
Glob’s “Olmo & the Seagull” which she co-directed with Petra Costa screened at IDFA 2015, while “Venus,” which was co-directed with Mette Carla Albrechtse, made its world premiere at IDFA in 2016.
“(‘Apolonia, Apolonia’) has characters who breathe life and take us on a journey,...
- 11/17/2022
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Recently graduated from the Beaux-Arts de Paris, French painter Apolonia Sokol heads to the U.S. in pursuit of the bigger picture. She finds it, after a fashion, as a wealthy collector commissions her to churn out 10 canvases a month. It’s an industrial approach to art that docmaker Lea Glob views skeptically: “Why only buy the art when it’s so much cheaper to buy the artist?” she asks. In a less cynical way, however, Glob’s unusual, compelling new film “Apolonia, Apolonia” invests grandly in Sokol herself, making the artist a kind of living installation that Glob’s camera intimately observes over the course of 13 years. 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.
As a portrait of the artist as a young woman, then, “Apolonia, Apolonia” is already layered and substantial,...
As a portrait of the artist as a young woman, then, “Apolonia, Apolonia” is already layered and substantial,...
- 11/14/2022
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
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