Henry Fonda for President is an archival essay film by curator and filmmaker Alexander Horwath, known for his deep engagement with cinema history and its political resonances. The film traces and intertwines the biographies of Henry Fonda and the United States. Guided by Fonda’s own voice drawn from his final 1981 interview, its narrative roams from the 17th-century Dutch origins of his family to Cold War cinema, midwestern towns, and Hollywood’s iconic portrayals – from settlers and social critics to virtuous presidents. Intercut with archival film, new footage of contemporary America, and the filmmaker’s introspective commentary, the work constructs an “imagined republic,” the “United States of Fonda,” where personal, cultural, and political histories converge.

In its associative structure and reflective tone, this essay film operates less as a standard biography and more as cultural archaeology, interrogating America’s democratic ideals, moral complexities, and disillusionment through the prism of Fonda’s persona and performances. The film blends montage and metacommentary, juxtaposing classical Hollywood’s myths with present-day landscapes and voiceover reflections. Its essayistic form emerges through layered juxtapositions, meditative pacing, and ideological inquiry, inviting viewers to explore the nation’s portrait through one of its most enduring cinematic voices.