This week we’re proud to showcase a special presentation of Alexander Horwath’s Henry Fonda for President, a monumental new essay film that reflects on American history through the life and films of its titular star. Drawn from extensive research on Fonda, as well as Horwath’s own memories and musings about his encounters with the actor’s films, this sprawling feature debut assembles a constellation of personal anecdotes, archival footage, and political inquiries into a revealing portrait of the United States.

Horwath begins his film with a personal recollection: Paris, summer of 1980. It is there that, according to his diary, he first encountered Fonda while seeing the following three films on vacation: The Wrong Man, Once Upon a Time in the West, and The Grapes of Wrath. It is also at this time that Ronald Reagan is nominated as the Republican presidential candidate in Detroit, MI, and Fonda prepares to shoot his final film in New Hampshire. From this point onward, Henry Fonda for President splinters in multiple directions.

The film offers a lucid study of its eponymous subject and the nation he came up in, but its mountain of questions about the people and places that figured into his life (and by virtue, that of the American public too) also allows it to comment on the American Revolution, the “Wild West,” the Civil War, the Great Depression, World War II, the counterculture ‘60s, the Reagan ‘80s, and even our present maelstrom. Through sustained reflection and diligent research, Horwath identifies the political forces behind American culture, disclosing a contentious but unbreakable relationship between culture and politics.

“I think of Henry Fonda for President as a ‘double helix’: an actor’s story and a story of America, spiralling around each other. And maybe it’s a double road movie, too — it moves on a real, geographical road and on a virtual one in the fourth dimension, across 330 years of American history.” ALEXANDER HORWATH

Beyond his fascination with the United States and Fonda, Horwath’s debut is also anchored in his deep-seated love and knowledge of cinema. To quote the celebrated critic J. Hoberman, the film is “a masterpiece of applied cinephilia.” So, despite its long runtime or its protean design, Horwath’s understanding of film history and form prevents Henry Fonda for President from ever feeling tedious or aimless. Instead, his well-modulated editing and precise inquiries about Fonda and the world around him become all-enveloping. Insofar as the term is not hollow, it is clear it is a passion project designed with care, rigor, and a lot of love.

Before he became a filmmaker, Alexander Horwath acted as the director of the Viennale (1992-97) and of the Austrian Film Museum (2002-17). He is a distinguished and discerning curator whose writing and research has addressed such figures as Josef von Sternberg, Guy Debord, and Ruth Beckermann. More recently, he has stated that his current research could result in another “film adventure” and that he is also working on a long-term curatorial project with his partner Regina Schlagnitweit.

Text written by Nicolas Pedrero-Setzer. Special thanks to Jake Perlin and The Film Desk, as well as Carlotta Films, Mischief Films, and Alexander Horwath for making this special presentation possible.