Sophie Farkas Bolla

Sophie Farkas Bolla is a Montreal-based filmmaker who divides her time between writing, directing and editing. Granddaughter of a Hungarian political refugee who reinvented himself as a real estate developer in Northern Canada, Sophie grew up playing in the woods. This period of her life defined by imagination and nature had a profound impact on her. As a filmmaker, she likes to revisit that time by telling stories driven by young people. She has directed several short films that have traveled to children’s film festivals around the world. ADVENTURES IN THE LAND OF ASHA is her first feature film. When Sophie is not working on her own films, she is also an accomplished editor. She has received multiple Canadian Screen Award and Prix Iris nominations for her work. Films she has edited include the award-winning ANGRY INUK (2016), ROADS IN FEBRUARY (2018) and BEANS (2020).

“When I was little, I spent my summers in the country playing with my sisters in the woods behind our house. Imagination was king and our adventures were limitless. I also often accompanied my maternal grandfather, my nagypapa, a Hungarian political refugee who had reinvented himself as a real estate developer, on his land. I would help him with his survey stakes and back home we would go on treasure hunts with the subdivision plans I found in his office. But when the lots were sold and the trees cut down, I felt helpless face to this reality. Over time, I realized how meaningful those moments were for the adult I have become. When I first started making films, my first instinct was to tell stories that would take me back to the imagination of my childhood. But the adult in me was also looking for a better understanding of the world in which I lived. My meeting and collaboration as an editor with Inuk director Alethea Arnaquq-Baril was a determining factor for me in this sense. At the same time as I was editing Angry Inuk (2016), the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada was released. The horror of the Indian residential schools was revealed and I didn't understand why we didn't learn about it in school. If there was a truth, there must have been a lie. I felt cheated. Adventures in the Land of Asha is the creative outcome of a long reflection. I see it as a dialogue between the world I grew up in and the political and social issues of today. It is the story of a little boy who leaves childhood, the pivotal moment in a life when you leave the world of imagination to enter reality. And even if Jules ultimately loses his illusions, he will also become aware that he has a place to take in this new world and, to me, this is where lies the heart of my film.”