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DEADLINE
Poster for the mini-series Deadline

Soko stars as Marion Beauvoir, a nurse addicted to opiods, in DEADLINE a mini-series in three, forty-five minute episodes. In this dark comedy, Marion gets a job in a palliative care unit in order to have access to a pharmacy with an inexhaustible stock of drugs. Her plan is simple: loot the pharmacy to pay off her debts as quickly as possible. A plan that works perfectly for the first few days, but when her scheme is discovered, Marion finds herself caught between the threat of her dealer and that of being denounced by the patients. She soon discovers that the wishes of the dying are far from easy to achieve. The series is written and directed by Erwan Marinopoulos. Anne Brochet will co-star. (Brochet and Soko also appeared together in the 2006 film Les irreductibles.)

THE SEEDING
Soko in The Seeding
Soko and Thatcher Jacobs in 'The Seeding'

Soko appears as an unnamed and mysterious hiker in Barnaby Clay's folk horror feature THE SEEDING, which stars Scott Haze as a man who finds himself trapped in a desert canyon with a woman (Kate Lyn Sheil) who is herself captive to a pack of sadistic boys.

Oscar Goff reviewed THE SEEDING for Boston Hassle. "I’m still not entirely sure I understand the implications of its big reveal," he explained, "or how its characters relate to each other. But, in execution, The Seeding is such an overwhelming sensory experience that it will take me a good long while to shake it off. It got to me, and for a movie like this that counts for just about everything." And Brett Herlingshaw of Soundsphere wrote: "The consistent and gorgeous visual style feeds into the psychological horror aspect of the film. Clay manages finds beauty in the macabre. Whether it’s a plate of rotting food or ants scurrying across a half-eaten chicken leg. For the most part, he gets around budgetary constraints by relying heavily on the small set and visual flair. Which works in the film’s favour. His ability behind the camera is astonishing. If only he had more money to do everything he wanted."

THE SEEDING can be streamed on HULU.

MY NAME IS ANDREA
Soko in 'My Name is Andrea'
Soko in 'My Name is Andrea'

Sheri Linden reviewed MY NAME IS ANDREA, in which Soko is one of five actors portraying aspects of feminist writer Andrea Dworkin, for The Hollywood Reporter: "Most of the dramatized moments involve Dworkin being shut down by abusive men just as she opens her heart toward life in new ways: the thrill of her first solo moviegoing excursion, with Amandla Stenberg as the tween Dworkin; her work as an organizer in the antiwar movement (here she’s played by Soko); the joy and then horror of her first marriage (Andrea Riseborough); the continued activism and the sorrows of later years (Ashley Judd and Christine Lahti). Judd’s participation draws a clear line between Dworkin’s understanding of the pervasiveness of sexual abuse and the #MeToo movement, though her sequences, the film’s most directly focused on pure protest, are the least evocative in terms of narrative impact. The other enacted scenes are tender, exuberant, shattering."

A tralier is available on Vimeo.

IN LIES WE TRUST
Thumbnail linking to YouTube trailer for Shirkoa: In Lies We Trust

Soko is the voice of 33F in Ishan Shukla's animated science fiction fantasy SHIRKOA: IN LIES WE TRUST. Vladan Petkovic described the film for Cineuropa: "Based on his 2016 short film Schirkoa, which stemmed from his own graphic novel, the first feature-length film by Indian director Ishan Shukla...is a dystopian animation that combines a classic story of authoritarianism, the fight for freedom and self-actualisation with Eastern philosophies' concept of enlightenment...sporting an aura of cool with a voice cast including Asia Argento, and guest appearances by Lav Diaz, Gaspar Noe, Shekhar Kapur and SoKo."

And in Asian Movie Pulse, Renee Ng wrote: "...councilman 197A [voiced by Shahbaz Sarwar & Tibu Fortes] grapples with his boredom and disillusionment in the city as he is being groomed to become a nominated member of parliament. One night, a spirited encounter with...‘Anomalie' 33F [voiced by Soko] changes his trajectory forever, bringing him beyond the borders of the city to communities on the fringe, where no one wears paper bags and citizens have gradually mutated in bodily and evolutionary revolt to suppression. In an underbelly city of fantastical hybrid creatures, centaurs, mermaids, horned faeries, 197A's journeys take him towards freedom, but also towards a new existentialism."

SOMETHING'S MORE THAN ONE THING
Thumbnail linking to YouTube trailer for Something's More Than One Thing

Tim Grierson reviewed SOMETHING'S MORE THAN ONE THING, a dramedy by Jay Alverez, for Screen Daily. "Much of the film sees Dylan [Devan Costa] and Caitlin [Alex Sgambati] living their own lives, even though they cohabit – another potentially potent metaphor for the sense of aloneness endemic to the modern world. With Dylan trying to realise his filmmaking dreams and Caitlin attempting to eke out a living — while growing closer to sensitive coworker Remy (James Scully) — there are signs that these two have been drifting apart even before Dylan’s one-night stand. But Alvarez’s decision to keep them separate throughout much of Something’s More Than One Thing introduces an interesting tension in which we get to know each as individuals, not as a couple."

SILENCE - with Luca D'Alberto

Luca D'Alberto's recently released song "Silence" (track 13 on the album "In Our Hearts") features Soko.

silence video thumbnail

WRITING SONGS IN FRENCH

Liv Toerkell wrote about FEEL FEELINGS for Nothing But Hope and Passion: "Aside of gay anthems like Oh To Be A Rainbow and the confessional Being Sad is not a Crime, Soko’s new release features a song in her mother tongue. Blasphémie, is the first track ever that the artist wrote in French and it is one of the most beautiful songs on the LP. 'I never thought I would write in French. I have written in English for half of my life now but it just sort of happened. Writing in French gave me the freedom to unleash a sensual poetic side that I could not express with the other songs. I am really attached to the song.'

"With writing in French came the realization that she wanted the entire LP to have more of a French ring to it. Even the tracks that are not in her mother tongue but in English, have the sultry sound of the French language woven into the instrumentation. 'It was a reaffirmation of where I come from and I deliberately stirred into that direction. I wanted to be like – hey I am still a French girl.'”



FEEL FEELINGS (2020)

In an interview with Laura Stukdarus of Grammy.com, Soko discussed the song "Quiet Storm" (Track 6): "The first version of that song was pretty sad, but when I recorded it for the record, I wanted the sound of it to be happy, even though the context and the situation is pretty dramatic, and I think I did that. The fact that the music has a happy tone—even like a sexy groove...I'm really happy with the results"

Oh-To-Be-A-Rainbow-Soko-Soundcloud-thoubnail-link

About the song "Oh, To Be A Rainbow", Soko told Kerensa Cadenas of The Cut: "Since the beginning, there were always songs about women on my records. But then on this one, I was like, fuck it. I’m going to write a song about being a fucking rainbow, 'Oh, To Be a Rainbow.' That was also inspired by the lyrics 'oh to be the cream' from the Bauhaus song 'All We Ever Wanted Was Everything.' I’ve always loved those lyrics."


Peyton Dix said in Cultured Magazine: "If 2012’s 'We Might Be Dead By Tomorrow' didn’t teach you how to love, then you were missing out on a whole era of heartbreak. Ten years later, older, wiser, and now a mother, Soko (born Stéphanie Sokolinski) and her music have matured...the musician-slash-actor returned from Los Angeles to Paris, collaborated with Vans, and even wrote a few impromptu songs with her child, Indigo Blue."


Soko posted on Instagram on 4 December: "I did a thing here, and it's not a thirst trap coz I’m single. I just.. got a little undressed for @lamaisondesfemmes93 and @rouje 's calendar and it's available now. All proceeds are donated to La maison des femmes. La maison des femmes is a shelter that takes care of women victim of violence. Amen, and thank you, we need you more than ever. Pictures by @denis.boulze Thank you @jeannedamas."

SOKO QUOTES

In a 2020 interview with Koko Ntuyen of Ladygunn Magazine Soko said: “When I do a movie, I’m just so deep in it that I just get lost. I’ve had people tell me that told me I need to protect myself. But then it takes me a while to shake that skin off that doesn’t belong to me and to get back to my life. I knew I was going to start my record and I knew that I needed to take some time off. I decided to go to the Hoffman Institute, and literally, I kid you not, the minute I booked it, everything in my life was trying to tempt me. I got offered a huge gig in China and I was just thought, fuck the money. Money comes and goes. This is a time that I’ve allotted to myself to take care of myself. And if I’m happy from within, no amount of money is going to make me happier.”


ON SONGWRITING

"Writing songs for me is almost like taking a musical picture of what’s inside my head. It’s for me to remember what I was going through when I’m older and get lessons out of my patterns or mistakes. It gives me perspective, so I need to be 100% honest when I do so, otherwise I’d feel like I’m lying to myself. Once I’ve done it and it feels completely vulnerable and raw, I don’t worry much about releasing it because as long as you do things with your heart wide open and pure and with good intention, your job is done, and hopefully people connect to that part of me that isn’t scared of sharing all my secrets and doubts and self-loathing with them."
---- (to Emily Maxwell of American Songwriter

HER MOST MEMORABLE GIG

"I was in Leipzig, Germany doing a movie and I just posted something on Facebook like "Hey, I'm going to be there tomorrow night. I don't know anyone over here, but would you guys want to come if I played a show? Find me somewhere and I'll be there". And they wrote, "Oh, you could play in that park, by the pond". I agreed, and I asked the director of the movie that I was doing if he wanted to come to see me play a few acoustic songs. When we got there, there were like three hundred people who had come over within only four or five hours. Everyone bought candles and blankets and tea and stuff. It was totally dark in this park. I was playing acoustic with no microphone or anything and it was just impossible. I asked people to raise their hands so I would go and play where there were the most raised hands and I would change location at each song. It was one of those really amazing shows and I played for two hours. I thought there were going to be about ten people there. It was the most beautiful thing ever."
---- (to Huw Oliver of DIY Magazine

ON INTOXICANTS

"I smoked weed for the very first time when I was twenty-eight. And I smoke weed occasionally. But it's really not an issue. It's like something I would do like once a month if I'm making music or if I'm in the studio or it's around. But it's really not a thing in my life. I'm not addicted to it, I don't buy it. I don't have it around. And also it's natural, and it has so many healing properties. I did drink red wine once, about four years ago—a one-night thing for Halloween, for my best friend's birthday, and it was awful. I got allergic to it. I couldn't even open my eyes for a week. It's the last time I drank."
---- (to GQ Magazine)

THE STIGMA OF BISEXUALITY

"I just did an interview for a gay women's magazine in France. They asked me something about lesbians who are anti-bi. I had no idea people like that existed. It's weird to me. Everyone is all about fighting homophobia, but then homosexuals are straight-o-phobic, or bi-o-phobic. It's like, 'Stop being a fucking hypocrite about it! You want people to tolerate you for not being like them, but then you go and do this.' You can't march for equal toplefts and then not tolerate someone who isn't like you."
---- (to Hayden Manders of Refinery 29)

Launched 7 August 2024
This site is not affiliated in any way with Soko (Stéphanie Sokolinski) or her management.