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“A meditation on the immortal power of art.” – The International Herald Tribune
"One of the purest, most moving pictures of the year."—Salon
“Mesmerizing!” – Variety
FOREVER March 22-24, 27-31
Sat 8:45pm, Sun 7:00pm, Mon 8:45pm, Thurs 7:00pm, Fri 8:45pm, Sat 7:00pm, Sun 8:45pm, Mon 7:00pm,
Netherlands 2006 // Director: Heddy Honigmann // 90 min // Digibeta
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VIFF 2007 REPEAT ENGAGEMENT
Heddy Honigmann's best film yet exemplifies all that is good in her art: uncommon tact, concentration, grace and gravity. She has turned a day in the life of the famed Paris cemetery Père-Lachaise into a supremely graceful meditation on, above all, the importance of art in life.
Père-Lachaise is a point of intersection between two worlds: while French families gather to visit dead relatives, foreigners come to see the final resting places of the famous. Honigmann, displaying characteristic sensitivity and intelligence, is extraordinarily successful at turning chance encounters into opportunities to discover not only why strangers are there, but what makes their lives tick.
During its visits to many famous graves-including those of Frédéric Chopin, Marcel Proust, Guillaume Apollinaire, Amadeo Modigliani, Oscar Wilde, Jean-Auguste Ingres, Maria Callas, Georges Méliès, Jim Morrison, Yves Montand and Simone Signoret-FOREVER also introduces us to the Parisians and tourists who make pilgrimages to these tombs, whether to pay their respects, leave flowers or personal messages, or even to tend to the upkeep of the tombstones. The film also pays moving tribute to talented young artists who died prematurely as well as to the less celebrated deceased remembered primarily by next of kin.
Visitors to the Père-Lachaise, including foreign tourists, a cemetery tour guide, a historian, a pianist, an illustrator, and an embalmer, share fascinating anecdotes about the deceased, and relate personal stories about the significance of the artists' work in their lives. In addition to these unusually moving interviews, FOREVER features highlights of the inspirational work of many of these renowned artists-from Callas singing "Tosca" and excerpts from the films of Méliès and Signoret to the music of Chopin, the writings of Wilde and Proust, and the paintings of Ingres and Modigliani-and demonstrates how their art has inspired and is commemorated by their devotees.
Honigmann's own artistry is also on display here, including a poetic cinematic style that conveys the melancholy beauty of the cemetery's memorial statuary and tombstones, and her ability to elicit surprisingly intimate human-interest stories from those she encounters. As a result, FOREVER will provide every viewer the opportunity to reflect on the transcendental importance of art in our lives, on our need to commune with the spirits of the departed, and perhaps on our own mortality as well.
For the past 20 years, Heddy Honigmann has been producing documentaries of uncommon beauty, insight and intelligence. Born in Peru, 1951 Heddy was trained as a filmmaker in Rome and has lived and worked in Holland since 1978. She has directed a large number of shorts, documentaries and features, including O AMOR NATURAL (1996), THE UNDERGROUND ORCHESTRA (1997) and DAME LA MANO (2004). Many retrospectives have been devoted to her oeuvre and her films have bagged awards across the globe.
"(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
"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
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