Heddy Honigmann's films are distinguished by their beautifully composed images and elegant structures, but what makes the Dutch filmmaker's work unique is the manner in which she gains access to the farthest reaches of her subjects' souls. Honigmann assesses the human condition using objects, poetry, and music to open the floodgates of memories and stories of such far-flung people as cab drivers from Lima, Bosnian widows, peacekeepers from around the world, and illegal immigrants in Paris.

An endlessly curious offscreen presence, Honigmann teases out the complex, astonishingly resilient, and often funny aspects of people's amazing lives. Her questions are direct and compassionate but persistent—like those of an old, dear friend. Her fiction features and shorts, while less well-known, are characterized by the same complex yet straightforward presentation of images and emotions buried beneath the surface of quotidian existence as are her documentaries, and are no less afraid of dealing with taboo subject matter.