Heddy Honigmann

“I don’t do interviews. I make conversation,” says Honigmann, whose elegantly composed documentaries feature her encounters with ordinary people like Peruvian cab drivers, street musicians or habitués of a Parisian cemetary. The child of Holocaust survivors and born and raised in Peru, she revisits themes of love, loss, memory, survival and the power of art throughout her work. “I could say that I always make the same documentary, with different elements and cities.” Now based in Holland, she’s had an international career spanning 25 years. Jytte Jensen, film curator at the Museum of Modern Art, praises her gift for revealing “the complex, astonishingly resilient and often funny aspects of people’s amazing lives.” She’s won numerous honours, including Lifetime Achievement Awards from Hot Docs and the SF International Film Festival.

Selected Filmography

Emoticons (2007)

Forever (2006)
Leipzig Film Festival — Ecumenical Jury Award
Dutch Critics Award — Best Film, 2006
Full Frame Documentary Festival — Inspiration Award, 2007

Dame la mano (2004)

Good Husband, Dear Son (2001)

Crazy (1999)
IDFA — Audience Award
Netherlands Film Festival — Best Documentary, Special Jury Prize

The Underground Orchestra (1998)
Netherlands Film Festival — Dutch Film Critics Award
Vancouver International Film Festival — Chief Dan George Humanitarian Award

O Amor Natural (1996)
San Francisco International Film Festival — Certificate of Merit

Metal and Melancholy (1994)

Other Awards and Honours

Hot Docs 2007 — Outstanding Achievement Award
SF International Film Festival — Persistence of Vision Award