‘THE APOLLO OF GAZA - Nicolas Wadimoff’

In the presence of the director.

In 2013, an ancient statue of Apollo was found in the waters off Gaza — before disappearing under mysterious circumstances. Was this the work of forgers, or a gift from the gods to a Palestinian people desperately in need of hope? Soon the rumours started to swirl, while behind the scenes local and international players started jostling—some driven by historical preservation and others by purely commercial interests. Filmed in Gaza and Jerusalem, The Apollo of Gaza plays out like a mystery built around a national treasure that is the stuff of dreams.

Nicolas Wadimoff was born in 1964 in Geneva and is a Swiss director, documentary filmmaker and producer. He is the cofounder of Etat d’Urgences, an association managing the cultural centre USINE in Genève. Nicolas founded Akka Films, devoted to the development of fiction films and production of documentaries. He has directed more than 20 films, both fiction and documentaries, among them the multi awarded Clandestins (1997), Aisheen, Still Alive In Gaza (2010), Operation Libertad (2012), Spartiates (2014), Jean Ziegler, The Optimism Of Willpower (2016) and The Apollo Of Gaza (2018) which have been shown at major international film festivals such as Berlinale, Festival del film Locarno, Canne’s Director’s Fortnight, etc.