I Am von Höfler(Variation on Werther)
(Von Höfler vagyok (Werther-variáció))
documentary, video, 160 minutes
PREMIER (HUNGARY): 2008.
How does the process of film-making–like weaving a carpet of the 250 years’ saga of the Hungarian von Höfler family–render its chosen subject topical and re-livable? And what is the topical signifier: is it merely a fleeting (momentary) décollage - which is neither a piece of news, nor official history? And what does my protagonist’s, young Tibor Höfler’s glance from the past (the films and stories), projected into his future (our present), offer to find by such puritanic means about the vortex called time? The twists of a long life, an elegy for the last member of the great Pécs leather manufacturers. Researchers have recently claimed that Goethe modeled his famous Werther figure on one of Tibor Höfler’s ancestors: our film journey presents itself in time and space with this double twist. Not only is Goethe's hero Werther different from the real 18thcentury Jakob von Höfler, but thus the threads of the Höfler saga intertwine in a double spiral of fate within the turmoil of 20th-century Central Europe. The real and invisible images of the melancholy hero, Werther – a literary fate – cross cut with the real life protagonist von Höfler's life, love, family, and fate.
Creators
Péter Forgács | Director |
Péter Forgács | Screenplay |
Tibor Höfler, Péter Forgács | Director of photography |
Péter Sass | Editor |
Tibor Szemző, László Melis | Music |
Zoltán Vadon, Tamás Zányi | Sound |
Péter Forgács | Producer |
For-Creation Ltd. | Production company |
Péter Forgács, András Forgách, Gabriella Hajós, Vera Sántha, Imola Stollár, Dániel Sass | Narrator |
Tibor Höfler | Cast |
Awards
Budapest Hungarian Film Week - 2008 | Creative Documentary Prize |
Festivals
Jerusalem International Film Festival - 2008 | (in competition) |
Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival - 2008 | (in competition) |
Cracow Film Festival - 2008 | (in competition) |
Yamagata International Documentum Film Festival - 2009 | (in competition) |
Bellaria Documentary Film Festival - 2008 |
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