Sofia Bohdanowicz | |
---|---|
Nationality | Canadian |
Occupation | Filmmaker |
Years active | 2009–present |
Known for | Maison du Bonheur |
Website | sofiabohdanowicz |
Sofia Bohdanowicz is a Canadian filmmaker. [1] She is known for her collaborations with Deragh Campbell and made her feature film directorial debut in 2016 with Never Eat Alone . Her second feature film, Maison du Bonheur , was a finalist for the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award at the 2018 Toronto Film Critics Association Awards. That year, she won the Jay Scott Prize from the Toronto Film Critics Association. Her third feature film, MS Slavic 7 , which she co-directed with Campbell, had its world premiere at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival in 2019. She has also directed several short films, such as Veslemøy's Song (2018) and Point and Line to Plane (2020).
After directing several short films since 2009, Bohdanowicz made her feature film directorial debut in 2016 with Never Eat Alone . [2] The film follows a lonely grandmother as she tries to reconnect with an ex-boyfriend from her youth. After premiering at the Vancouver International Film Festival, [2] it screened at the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema as part of a 2017 retrospective of Bohdanowicz's work. [3] Her second feature film, Maison du Bonheur , which profiles 77-year-old Juliane Sellam, a French astrologer living in Montmartre, was a finalist for the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award at the Toronto Film Critics Association Awards 2018. [4] The film premiered at the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema on April 23, 2017, [5] and had a limited theatrical release in the U.S. and Canada in 2018. [6] [7] The Globe and Mail 's Barry Hertz named the film one of his top 10 films of 2018, writing "A supremely thoughtful and careful study of one elderly Parisian woman, Maison du bonheur is as revealing as it is honest and sincere," adding, "This is a film to seek out and cherish.” [8] Glenn Kenny of The New York Times selected the film as a Critics' Pick and called it "a profound delight." [9]
Her collaborations with actress Deragh Campbell have screened at festivals around the world. Since 2016, Campbell has portrayed the character of Audrey Benac in four of Bohdanowicz's films—Never Eat Alone, Veslemøy's Song (2018), and MS Slavic 7 (2019), the latter of which Campbell co-directed. [10] Never Eat Alone premiered in the Future//Present section of the 2016 Vancouver International Film Festival; [2] Veslemøy's Song, a short film, premiered at the 2018 Locarno Film Festival and was named by the Toronto International Film Festival to its annual year-end Canada's Top Ten list; [11] [12] MS Slavic 7 had its world premiere at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival and screened at the annual New Directors/New Films Festival. [13] [14]
Her latest short film, Point and Line to Plane , which also featured Campbell as the fictional character Audrey Benac, [15] premiered at the Marseille International Film Festival in July 2020 and subsequently screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, the New York Film Festival, the Festival de nouveau cinéma in Montreal, and the Vienna International Film Festival, among others. [16] [17] [18]
In a 2020 interview with film website Seventh Row, Bohdanowicz revealed that despite directing and editing several feature films, she has never written a screenplay. [19] That year, she also directed a short documentary film titled The Hardest Working Cat in Show Biz, which was released online by Filmmaker . [20]
In 2021, she was one of the participants in John Greyson's experimental short documentary film International Dawn Chorus Day . [21]
Bohdanowicz has won accolades for her work. In 2016, at the Vancouver International Film Festival, Bohdanowicz won the Emerging Canadian Director award for Never Eat Alone. [2] At the 17th Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards, she was nominated for Best Director of a Canadian Film and won the award for Best Canadian Documentary. [22] In 2018, she was awarded the Jay Scott Prize by the Toronto Film Critics Association. [23]
Year | Film | Type | Director | Writer | Producer | Cinematographer | Editor | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2009 | Falling with Force | Short film | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | |
2012 | Dundas Street | Short film | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Co-directed with Joanna Durkalec |
2013 | An Evening (Wieczór) | Short film | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | |
A Prayer (Modlitwa) | Short film | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | ||
2014 | Another Prayer (Dalsza Modlitwa) | Short film | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | |
2016 | A Drownful Brilliance of Wings | Short film | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | |
Never Eat Alone | Feature film | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Feature directorial debut | |
2017 | Maison du Bonheur | Feature film | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Documentary |
2018 | Veslemøy's Song | Short film | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | |
The Soft Space | Short film | Yes | No | No | No | No | Co-directed with Melanie Scheiner | |
2019 | MS Slavic 7 | Feature film | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Co-directed with Deragh Campbell |
2020 | Point and Line to Plane | Short film | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | |
2020 | The Hardest Working Cat in Show Biz | Short film | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Documentary |
2024 | Measures for a Funeral | Feature film | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
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Maison du Bonheur is a 2017 Canadian documentary film directed by Sofia Bohdanowicz. It profiles Juliane Sellam, a 77-year-old French astrologer living in Montmartre.
Veslemøy's Song is a 2018 Canadian dramatic short film directed by Sofia Bohdanowicz. A continuation of her 2016 film Never Eat Alone, the film stars Deragh Campbell as Audrey Benac, a young woman attempting to research and recover the history of a largely forgotten female violinist and composer, Kathleen Parlow, who had taught Audrey's grandfather.
MS Slavic 7 is a 2019 Canadian drama film directed by Sofia Bohdanowicz and Deragh Campbell. It stars Campbell as a young woman who discovers a series of letters in a Harvard archive between her great-grandmother and a fellow Polish poet. The film derives its name from the library call number for the box that holds the letters.
Never Eat Alone is a 2016 Canadian drama film written and directed by Sofia Bohdanowicz. The film follows a lonely grandmother as she tries to reconnect with an ex-boyfriend from her youth.
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Deragh Campbell is a Canadian actress and filmmaker. She is known for her acclaimed performances in independent Canadian cinema. Her collaborations with filmmaker Sofia Bohdanowicz—Never Eat Alone (2016), Veslemøy's Song (2018), MS Slavic 7 (2019), and Point and Line to Plane (2020)—have screened at film festivals internationally. Campbell has also starred in three of Kazik Radwanski's feature films; she played a small role in How Heavy This Hammer (2015), the lead role in Anne at 13,000 Ft. (2019), and opposite Matt Johnson in Matt and Mara (2024).
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Point and Line to Plane is a 2020 Canadian dramatic short film directed by Sofia Bohdanowicz and starring Deragh Campbell. The film continues to follow the character Audrey Benac.
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