Portrait of My Father

Director’s Statement – Juan Ignacio Fernandez Hoppe

To make this movie, I had to lend a camera to the 8-year-old boy who was a bit skeptical his father had died, because death was for grown-ups. Only that boy would think portraying his father would be a sort of building block game. If I try hard enough, if I capture his belongings on camera in a certain way, if I film the beach where his drowned body was found, or if we listen to his music…

What if I get my mother to admit the inadmissible? Ultimately, if I gather all the pieces, I can take it: I can bring him back to life. But that is not how it works, because objects are mute, files never tell the truth, and testimonies are always insufficient.

It was necessary to give up faith, to feel my film autopsy had failed, for me to find a way to empathise a little with the frustration my father might have felt at seeing his dreams torn asunder. Then, the miracle happened. This is what this film is about.