Henry Fonda for President

2024 —
completed, featured

Henry Fonda for President

AT/DE, 2024, 184 min
Mischief Films, Medea Film Factory

A personal essay about the United States, viewed through the life and work of a movie actor. Henry Fonda and the roles he played merge into a dazzling and conflicted figure. A very private man who thought he had “no good answers to anything” becomes the unlikely motor of a parallel history. His voice, recorded during his last interview in 1981, and his onscreen avatars guide us through America’s past and present – on a road trip from the village of Fonda, NY, across the Midwest to the Pacific; from 1651 to the 1980s and the presidency of another movie actor. It takes many places and times and characters to imagine an invisible republic – the United States of Fonda.

Director	Alexander Horwath
Camera, Sound, Editing	Michael Palm
Artistic collaboration	Regina Schlagnitweit
Producers	Ralph Wieser, Irene Höfer, Andreas Schroth
Co-Production	Medea Film Factory (GER)
Funded by	Austrian Ministry of Arts and Culture, Stadt Wien, nordmedia - Film- und Mediengesellschaft Niedersachsen/Bremen mbH. In co-operation with ZDF-ARTE.
Festival Booking	Austrian Films
Distribution Austria	Filmladen

Trailer

Awards

Special Jury Prize - BAFICI 2024, Buenos Aires

Chantal Akerman Prize - Jerusalem International Film Festival 2024

Audience Award - Cinema on Cinema Competition, I Mille Occhi Triest 2024

Time of History Special Award - SEMINCI Valladolid

Special Jury Prize - Cineuropa, Santiago de Compostela

Nomination Berlinale Documentary Award 2024

Festivals (Selection)

World Premiere: Berlinale
BAFICI Buenos Aires
DOK.fest Munich
JEONJU Int. Film Festival
Il Cinema Ritrovato, Bologna
Dokudays Kiev
Midnight Sun Festival Sodankylä
FICUNAM Mexico City
Jerusalem International Film Festival
Viennale
Fünf Seen Filmfestival Starnberg
I Mille Occhi Triest
Film Fest Ghent
Budapest Classic Films Marathon
São Paulo International Film Festival
SEMINCI – Valladolid Film Festival
DocLisboa International Film Festival
Astra Film Festival Sibiu
Duisburger Filmwoche
American Film Festival Wroclaw
Cineuropa Santiago de Compostela

Press

A transfixing gem of an essay film.

Kieron Corless, Sight and Sound - No. 21 of the 50 best films of 2024

A masterpiece of applied cinephilia.

J. Hoberman, Artforum

I dare say it's one of the event films of this decade.

Flavia Dima, Scena 9

The monumental film of the edition: the one for which this festival will be remembered because it will leave an immanent record in memory. It is titled Henry Fonda For President.

Jose Luis Loza, La Voz de Galicia

Deserved acclaim for a near unique piece of cinema.

Meredith Taylor, Filmuforia)

I have no hesitation in stating that it is one of the most beautiful biographical (and not only) documentaries seen in recent years. A highly cultured film and actually also light and entertaining

Matteo Galli, Close U

An ambitious and rich work that combines film history and political analysis.

Diego Lerer, Micropsia

In three exciting and inspiring hours of film, [Horwath] not only delivers a portrait of the outstanding actor, he also unfolds the complex and ambivalent history of the United States.

Jens Hinrichsen, Der Tagesspiegel