Heddy Honigmann forever

FOREVER is a film about the power and vitality of art, about a place where love and death go hand in hand and beauty lives on: the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris.

In FOREVER we see the mysterious, calming and consoling beauty of this unique cemetery through the eyes of today’s visitors. Many come for their ’own’ beloved: husbands, wives, family and friends. Others honor ’their’ artist by leaving behind a personal message or a flower. While admirers share with us the importance of art and beauty in their lives and their sorrow for the loss of those dearly departed, the graveyard gradually reveals itself not only as a resting place for the dead, but also as a source of peace and inspiration for the living.

Awards:

Dutch Film Award, Best Feature Documentary , Utrecht 2006
Critic’s Film Award, Utrecht 2006
The Ecumenical Jury Award Leipzig 2006
Crystal Film Award NDL (> 10.000 visitors) 2006
Lorenzo De' Medici Prize, Festival Dei Popoli 2006
Punto de vista First Prize, International Documentary Film Festival of Navarra 2007
Full Frame Inspiration Award USA 2007
Johnnie Walker Audience Award for Best Feature Film, 4th IndieLisboa festival 2007

Nominations

Dutch Film Award, Best Editing, Utrecht 2006
Golden Rose Montreux Arts category 2007

Praise

"Elegiac, affecting... A gently touching film that is also beautifully shot, FOREVER is highly recommended." -F. Swietek, Video Librarian
"One of the purest, most moving motion pictures of the year... a poetic meditation on death, yeah, but it's also a joyful experience." -Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com
"A delicate, measured work of unexpected wisdom and hope that preserves the mysteries of love, art, and memory."" -Nicolas Rapold, New York Sun
"(Five out of Six Stars) Exquisite! ... How can a film about a graveyard contain so much life?... FOREVER is ultimately a meditation on the human condition and how, in the midst of grief and loss, we manage to create fragile, piercing joys." -Tom Beer, Time Out New York
"This is no somber doc about death. In exploring the life-changing, death-defying power of beauty, FOREVER turns out to be a fascinating, beautiful meditation on art." -Kelly Jane Torrance, The Washington Times
"Enchanting, lively and insightful... breathtaking cinematography." -Avi Offer, NYCMovieGuru.com
"FOREVER achieves something more resonant than a Solemn Affirmation of the Immortal Spirit of Art by virtue of Honigmann's instinct and sensitivity as an interviewer; circulating through the cemetery, she patiently extracts often staggeringly tragic-poetic backstory from its living denizens." -Nick Pinkerton, The Village Voice
"Mesmerizing... one of [Honigmann's] most accomplished and expressive works" -Deborah Young, Variety
"It is surprising that a film about a cemetery should end up being a celebration of life, but that's what the magic of intelligent cinema is all about, believing that culture and art are the motors of existence." -Ramiro Cristóbal, FIPRESCI
"What a joyful visit to a cemetery!... [The film] also takes place in your own mind, you make your own associations. Existential questions are dealt with without any banality and always with a respectful curiosity for the people who reveal their heart on camera." -Tue Steen Müller, Dox Magazine
"A sublime rumination on how infrequently we discuss the entire subject of beauty." -Maria Garcia, Film Journal International
"A delicate, measured work of unexpected wisdom and hope that preserves the mysteries of love, art, and memory... (It) conveys equally and elegantly the loving devotion of the living to the departed, and the redemptive, revitalizing power of art. One of the very few (documentaries) where we genuinely feel how necessary, how much of a lifeblood (or life preserver), art can be." -Nicholas Rapold, The New York Sun
"Exhilarating in its praise of the joys of life and art." -The New York Post

"An ideal project for Honigmann's considerable skills. Swaddled in an array of sumptuous images, the personal stories she elicits, without a hint of mawkishness or condescension, combine with impromptu musical or poetic performances... to create a rich fabric of historical reference and cross-cultural identification... In one gorgeously condensed passage, the "eternity" of painting and the congealed moment of cinema meet the bald factuality of death, as it were, head on." -Paul Arthur, Film Comment
"It's been a long summer, my movie friends. Diversions, reports, polemics, come-ons and a plentiful supply of time-wasters have filled the theaters. Now, at last, comes a film that was made for love. I'd almost forgotten what I was missing until Honigmann reminded me - but that, of course, is what FOREVER is all about." -Stuart Klawans, The Nation
"A lively and engrossing film... FOREVER, which deals with death, is far from a gloomy film, but it does confront us with a reality that we're all bound to share sooner or later: losing friends and loved ones, and eventually reaching the end ourselves. We may not be fully aware of it, but we have a stake in what happens on screen." -William Johnson, Film Quarterly
"Mesmerizing and moving in its simplicity... Highly recommended for all audiences." -Christine Rigda, Library Journal

Credits:

photography ROBERT ALAZRAKI / sound PIOTR VAN DIJK / editor DANNIEL DANNIEL / sound design HUGO DIJKSTAL / Written by HEDDY HONIGMANN and ESTER GOULD in cooperation with JUDITH VRERIKS / commissioning editors CEES VAN EDE & ANNEMIEK VAN DER ZANDEN

A Cobos Films production in co-production with NPS Television

This film was made with the participation of Dutch Film Fund, CoBO FUND, Dutch Cultural Broadcasting Promotion Fund, ThuisKopie Fund, MEDIA PROGRAMME DEVELOPMENT and MEDIA DISTRIBUTION

With support of YLE Teema Finland, TV Estonia, SBS Australia and SVT Sweden

the crew from forever