Heddy Honigmann
(Lima, 1951- Amsterdam 2022) is one of the best known documentary makers of the Netherlands. Her work is screened on many festivals around the world and among others MoMa in New York dedicated a retrospective to her. Honigmann puts outsiders first in her work, but also memory, music and love form constant elements. Her latest film, El Olvido, is about children, who run small businesses or work as waiters trying to survive in Lima. In Emoticons (2007) she focusses on 'wandering souls' roaming the Internet in the nightly hours seeking friendship and love. Forever (2006), a portrait of visitors to the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris, was awarded a Golden Calf at the Utrecht Film Festival. Previously she made dcumentaries on Cuban exiles in New Jersey (Dame la Mano, 2003) and on the traumatic experiences of UN soldiers (Crazy, 1999). Her power lies in the enormous empathy with which she approaches her subjects. 'I don't do interviews', she says about her style, 'I do conversations.'
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Archive available for: Heddy Honigmann
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The Real Thing 3: Art
Theme of the third part of the triptych hosted by Michaël Zeeman was art: 'If a feature film is the mise en scene of emotions, then the documentary is the mise en scene of reality,' Heddy Honigmann said about her documentaries. Honigmann talked to author Bernlef about the question what 'genuine' or 'authentic' means in their work. It turned out to be an open conversation on the quest for the right tone and the correct form.
