Time and again, the X-Men saga has proved to be Marvel Comics’ key source of bold, hard-hitting, poignant storytelling, with the stories of mutants acting as an allegorized account of the real-world treatment of the marginalized sections of society. With the latest episode of X-Men ’97, titled Remember It, viewers are once again reminded of the scope of such narratives, as a devastating tragedy taking place in the mutant nation of Genosha almost reminds us of an ongoing real-world crisis.
Previously, Nathan Summers, the infant son of Scott and Madelyn Pryor (Jean’s clone) was infected by a techno-organic virus thanks to Mr. Sinister’s machinations, leaving no option for the parents except to send him to the future with Bishop to find a cure in order to save him. Meanwhile, Magneto had proven his goodwill by showing restraint, even after his hearing at the Un ended with an assassination attempt,...
Previously, Nathan Summers, the infant son of Scott and Madelyn Pryor (Jean’s clone) was infected by a techno-organic virus thanks to Mr. Sinister’s machinations, leaving no option for the parents except to send him to the future with Bishop to find a cure in order to save him. Meanwhile, Magneto had proven his goodwill by showing restraint, even after his hearing at the Un ended with an assassination attempt,...
- 4/12/2024
- by Siddhartha Das
- Film Fugitives
This X-Men ’97 article contains spoilers.
Life has never been easy for the X-Men, or any mutant in the Marvel Universe. They’re feared and hated, oppressed just for being alive. They’re betrayed time and again, even by heroes who call themselves their friends.
But in the history of the X-Men, there are three stories that stand out as particularly heartbreaking: Mutant Massacre, E is for Extinction, and Fall of X. And the latest episode of X-Men ’97 just combined them all into one shocking half-hour full of deaths.
“Remember It” begins as a love letter to all things X-Men, as Magneto, Rogue, and Gambit head to the island nation of Genosha. Once the home of an oppressive human regime (modeled in the original comics after Apartheid South Africa), Genosha has become a home for mutants, a sovereign nation under mutant rule. Director Emi Yonemura and series creator Beau De Mayo...
Life has never been easy for the X-Men, or any mutant in the Marvel Universe. They’re feared and hated, oppressed just for being alive. They’re betrayed time and again, even by heroes who call themselves their friends.
But in the history of the X-Men, there are three stories that stand out as particularly heartbreaking: Mutant Massacre, E is for Extinction, and Fall of X. And the latest episode of X-Men ’97 just combined them all into one shocking half-hour full of deaths.
“Remember It” begins as a love letter to all things X-Men, as Magneto, Rogue, and Gambit head to the island nation of Genosha. Once the home of an oppressive human regime (modeled in the original comics after Apartheid South Africa), Genosha has become a home for mutants, a sovereign nation under mutant rule. Director Emi Yonemura and series creator Beau De Mayo...
- 4/10/2024
- by Joe George
- Den of Geek
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
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
Lea Glob approaches the subject of her award-winning documentary, Apolonia, Apolonia, with a devout curiosity. Apolonia, a French painter whom the director met in 2009, is a striking figure. She is wide-eyed and brunette with bangs that stop, almost abruptly, in the middle of her forehead. She moves with an arresting ease, commanding rooms like stage actors do theater audiences. In the first scene of the film, shot in 2013, the artist flits about her tiny apartment, preparing for her 26th birthday party. She dismisses dress options like a countess among her attendants and demands attention from her friends in a similarly regal manner. Her smile, a toothy grin outlined by vivid lipstick colors, courts mischief. Her eyes inspire questions.
Who is Apolonia? Glob’s meditative doc is, initially, desperate to know. The beginning of Apolonia, Apolonia chronicles those years when Glob sheepishly assumed the role of director and the artist her subject.
Who is Apolonia? Glob’s meditative doc is, initially, desperate to know. The beginning of Apolonia, Apolonia chronicles those years when Glob sheepishly assumed the role of director and the artist her subject.
- 12/18/2023
- by Lovia Gyarkye
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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
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