Henry Fonda for President
completed
Henry Fonda for President
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, World Sales | Sixpackfilm |
| 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
EDITING Prize for Best Feature Documentary - Diagonale 2025
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.
A masterpiece of applied cinephilia.
I dare say it's one of the event films of this decade.
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.
Deserved acclaim for a near unique piece of cinema.
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
An ambitious and rich work that combines film history and political analysis.
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.
Horwath crafts an elaborate cinematic testimonial to both Fonda – a president who never came to be – and the US
A triumphal work.
Presskit
hffp-pressekit-2025-en-final-small.pdf
hffp-pressekit-2025-final-small.pdf
hffp-pressestimmen-kurzfassung-240321.pdf
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