Ondi Timoner | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Andrea Doane Timoner |
| Alma mater | Yale University |
| Occupation(s) | Film director, producer |
| Years active | 1994–present |
| Children | 1 |
Ondi Doane Timoner is an American filmmaker and thefounder andchief executive officer ofInterloper Films, aproduction company located inPasadena, California.
Timoner is a two-time recipient of theSundance Film Festival'sGrand Jury Prize for her documentariesDig! (2004) andWe Live in Public (2009). Both films were acquired by New York'sMuseum of Modern Art for their permanent collection.[1] Her 2023 film,Last Flight Home was nominated for anEmmy.
Timoner is a member of theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences,[2] theDGA,[2] thePGA, theInternational Documentary Association,Film Fatales,[3] and Women in Film.
Timoner was born in Miami, Florida, to Elissa andEli Timoner, co-founder ofAir Florida.[4] She has two siblings, Rabbi Rachel Timoner and David Timoner, who co-founded Interloper Films and has collaborated on several of her works.
Timoner attendedYale University, where she founded the Yale Street Theater Troupe, a guerrilla theater ensemble that performed spontaneously in unexpected environments, in 1992.[5] She made her directorial stage debut in 1993 with her production of Sarah Daniels'Masterpieces.[5] Timoner shot her first documentary film,Three Thousand Miles and a Woman with a Video Camera, with her younger brother David andJohn Krokidas, interviewing people at crossroads and convenience stores while on a cross country road trip.[6]
She subsequently filmedReflections on a Moment: The Sixties and the Nineties, an exploration of her generation's nostalgia for the 1960s andThe Purple Horizon, a 60-minute documentary on theMarch on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation.[5][7] For her filmVoices From Inside Timeshe interviewed women inmates which would eventually lead her toBonnie Jean Foreshaw, the subject of her first feature film,The Nature of The Beast.[6][5] The film went on to win the Howard Lamar Film Prize for Best Undergraduate Film at Yale University.[5]
Timoner graduated cum laude from Yale in 1994, where she majored in American Studies, with a concentration in Film and Literature and Theater Studies.[5][8][9]
Her debut feature documentary, titledThe Nature of The Beast (1994), explores the life and case of Bonnie Jean Foreshaw. Foreshaw was serving the longest prison sentence in the state of Connecticut for unintentionally causing the death of a pregnant woman, while defending herself against a man. The documentary aimed to shed light on issues of racism and systemic flaws within the justice system.[10]
During her career, Timoner contributed to PBS documentaries and gained experience through an internship with documentary filmmakerHelen Whitney.[5]
Timoner held roles such as Assistant Producer for NBC Media Services and Assistant Regional Coordinator for the Steven Spielberg Holocaust/Oral History Project in Miami, Florida.[5]
Timoner created, executive produced and directed theVH1 original seriesSound Affects (2000),[7] a film about music's effect at critical moments in people's lives.
Timoner directed, co-produced, and editedDig! (2004) with her brother David Timoner, which chronicles seven years[11] in the lives of twoneo-psychedelic bands,The Dandy Warhols andThe Brian Jonestown Massacre. The film explores the love-hate relationship of the band's frontmen,Courtney Taylor andAnton Newcombe. The film won the Grand Jury Prize at the2004 Sundance Film Festival,[12] is now part of the permanent collection of theMuseum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City,[13] and was screened as the finale of the Film Society atLincoln Center and MoMA's 33rd annualNew Directors/New Films Festival, in 2004.[14][15]
Timoner co-directed the short filmRecycle (2005),[16] a documentary about a homeless person who makes a garden in downtown Los Angeles. The film premiered at the2005 Sundance Film Festival and played theCannes Film Festival. Her third feature documentary,Join Us (2007),[17] follows families in their escape from a cult. It premiered atLA Film Festival, winning awards at theSidewalk Film Festival andVancouver International Film Festival.
When theJonas Brothers were signed toColumbia Records, Timoner was hired to film three music videos for the group.[18]
Timoner debutedWe Live in Public at the2009 Sundance Film Festival. The film focuses onJosh Harris, an American internet entrepreneur who foundedPseudo.com, awebcasting site that filed for bankruptcy in 2000.[19]We Live in Public won the Grand Jury Prize award in the Documentary category at the Sundance Film Festival[20] and a Special Jury Mention for "Best Documentary Film Over 30 Minutes Long" at the 2009Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.[21]
Timoner was hired byRalph Winter and Terry Botwick to make her fifth feature,Cool It (2010), adapted from the2007 book of the same name following controversial political scientistBjørn Lomborg. The film premiered atToronto International Film Festival and was distributed theatrically byRoadside Attractions.[22]
Her next film,Library of Dust (2011), shines light on canisters of cremated remains found at theOregon State Hospital.[23] Co-directed with Robert James,Library of Dust premiered at SXSW in 2011 and went on to win The Grand Jury Prize at five festivals, includingSeattle International Film Festival, Taos Film Festival,Traverse City Film Festival, and International Film Festival of Puerto Rico.The Last Mile (2015), made withConde Nast, focuses on a tech incubator insideSan Quentin State Prison.[24]
Timoner's sixth feature documentary,Brand: A Second Coming (2015), about the journey of comedian/author/activistRussell Brand, was chosen to be the opening night film at the 2015SXSW Film Festival inAustin, Texas and was later picked up byShowtime.[25] She was the sixth and final director to work on the film,Albert Maysles being one of the predecessors.[26]
Timoner was invited by real estate entrepreneur Jimmy Stice to visit his for-profit sustainability program,Kalu Yala, in thePanamaian Jungle.[27] Timoner filmed her next project around the business venture in 2016.[27][28]Spike Jonze picked up the project forViceland and the footage was released as the ten-hourdocu-seriesJungletown (2017).[27]
Timoner debuted her narrative featureMapplethorpe (2018), titledThe Perfect Moment in pre-production,[7] at the 2018Tribeca Festival, where it was nominated for Best Narrative Feature. It is based on the life and career of the controversial portrait photographerRobert Mapplethorpe, starringMatt Smith as the titular artist. The project received a grant through theTribeca Film Institute's 9th annual All Access Program and was invited to participate in theSundance Institute Director's, Writer's and Producer's Labs - receiving anAdrienne Shelley Grant. It was later picked up bySamuel Goldwyn Films in July 2018 and had its theatrical release on March 1, 2019. The Director's Cut, which was selected to premiere at Sundance, but ultimately did not screen there, was released April 2, 2021.[29]
In 2020, Timoner directedComing Clean, a feature documentary about addiction through the eyes of recovering addicts and political leaders. The film premiered at theBentonville Film Festival on August 6, 2020[30] and won the Impact Award at the 2020[31][32] and Special Jury Prize for Editing atSidewalk Film Festival 2020.[33]
Timoner's 2022 feature,Last Flight Home, tells the story of her father, Eli Timoner, who died during the film's production. The film premiered in the Special Screening category at Sundance Film Festival in 2022, and was purchased by MTV Documentary Films shortly after.[34] The film was shortlisted for the 2023 Academy Awards and received an Emmy nomination for Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking shortly after.[35][36] In 2023, Timoner completed her documentary about the disruption of finance,The New Americans: Gaming a Revolution, which premiered at SXSW.[37]
Timoner has directedAll God's Children, which follows Rabbi Rachel Timoner, a reform rabbi and political activist, and Reverend Dr. Robert Waterman, a black baptist reverend and community leader, for several years as they bring their respective congregations,Congregation Beth Elohim and Antioch Baptist Church, together in an attempt to combat the racism and anti-semitism that affects their communities in Brooklyn.[38]
She directedThe Inn Between about the eponymous facility, the only hospice and recuperative care facility for the homeless in the U.S.[39]
Timoner founded, directed and producedA Total Disruption (2012).[40]A Total Disruption is a web portal of 300 shorts and classes to share origin stories of Internet founders and artists using technology to innovate independence. Her short filmObey the Artist,[41] about graphic artistShepard Fairey, premiered at theSXSW Film Festival in 2013.[42] Timoner's short film,Amanda F---ing Palmer on the Rocks,[43] about musicianAmanda Palmer premiered in 2014[44] at the Tribeca Festival and played other festivals, winning the Sheffield Shorts Award at theSheffield DocFest.[45]
Compassion & Choices announced in May 2023 that it was partnering with Interloper Films, to help them get the right to die for terminally-ill people by screeningLast Flight Home, along with in-person Q&As, providing testimony from the Timoner family, political advocates and experts about the right to die.[46] Timoner and family were in Washington in early June 2023 to screen and discuss the film at an event presented by the U.S. RepresentativeBrittany Pettersen, to advocate for the human right to bodily autonomy at the end of life, and specifically to support legislative efforts to reform the ban on federal funding for medical-aid-in-dying (ASFRA) to ensure equal access to the right in states where it is already legal.[47]
Timoner is the daughter ofEli Timoner, founder ofAir Florida. She has two siblings.[53] Timoner has one son, born in 2003. She married composerMorgan Doctor at the Telluride Film Festival in 2022.
