Ondi Timoner

Ondi Doane Timoner is an American filmmaker and the founder and chief executive officer of Interloper Films, a production company located in Pasadena, California.

Timoner is a two-time recipient of the Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize for her documentaries Dig! (2004) and We Live in Public (2009). Both films were acquired by New York's Museum of Modern Art for their permanent collection. Her 2023 film, Last Flight Home was nominated for an Emmy and Academy Award.

Timoner is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the DGA, the PGA, the International Documentary Association, Film Fatales, and Women in Film.

Early life
Timoner was born in Miami, Florida, to Elissa and Eli Timoner, co-founder of Air Florida. She has two siblings, Rabbi Rachel Timoner and David Timoner, who co-founded Interloper Films and has collaborated on several of her works.

Timoner attended Yale University, where she founded the Yale Street Theater Troupe, a guerrilla theater ensemble that performed spontaneously in unexpected environments, in 1992. She made her directorial stage debut in 1993 with her production of Sarah Daniels' Masterpieces. Timoner shot her first documentary film, Three Thousand Miles and a Woman with a Video Camera, with her younger brother David and John Krokidas, interviewing people at crossroads and convenience stores while on a cross country road trip.

She subsequently filmed Reflections on a Moment: The Sixties and the Nineties, an exploration of her generation's nostalgia for the 1960s and The Purple Horizon, a 60-minute documentary on the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation. For her film Voices From Inside Time she interviewed women inmates which would eventually lead her to Bonnie Jean Foreshaw, the subject of her first feature film, The Nature of The Beast. The film went on to win the Howard Lamar Film Prize for Best Undergraduate Film at Yale University.

Timoner graduated cum laude from Yale in 1994, where she majored in American Studies, with a concentration in Film and Literature and Theater Studies.

Career 
Her debut feature documentary, titled "The 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.

During her career, Timoner contributed to PBS documentaries and gained experience through an internship with documentary filmmaker Helen Whitney.

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.

2000s 
Timoner created, executive produced and directed the VH1 original series Sound Affects (2000), a film about music's effect at critical moments in people's lives.

Timoner directed, co-produced, and edited Dig! (2004) with her brother David Timoner, which chronicles seven years in the lives of two neo-psychedelic bands, The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre. The film explores the love-hate relationship of the band's frontmen, Courtney Taylor and Anton Newcombe. The film won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, is now part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, and was screened as the finale of the Film Society at Lincoln Center and MoMA's 33rd annual New Directors/New Films Festival, in 2004.

Timoner co-directed the short film Recycle (2005), a documentary about a homeless person who makes a garden in downtown Los Angeles. The film premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and played the Cannes Film Festival. Her third feature documentary, Join Us (2007), follows families in their escape from a cult. It premiered at LA Film Festival, winning awards at the Sidewalk Film Festival and Vancouver International Film Festival.

When the Jonas Brothers were signed to Columbia Records, Timoner was hired to film three music videos for the group.

Timoner debuted We Live in Public at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. The film focuses on Josh Harris, an American internet entrepreneur who founded Pseudo.com, a webcasting site that filed for bankruptcy in 1993. We Live in Public won the Grand Jury Prize award in the Documentary category at the Sundance Film Festival and a Special Jury Mention for 'Best Documentary Film Over 30 Minutes Long' at the 2009 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

2010s 
Timoner was hired by Ralph Winter and Terry Botwick to make her fifth feature, Cool it (2010), adapted from the 2007 book of the same name following controversial political scientist Bjørn Lomborg. The film premiered at Toronto International Film Festival and was distributed theatrically by Roadside Attractions.

Her next film, Library of Dust (2011), shines light on canisters of cremated remains found at the Oregon State Hospital. 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, including Seattle International Film Festival, Taos Film Festival, Traverse City Film Festival, and International Film Festival of Puerto Rico. The Last Mile (2015), made with Conde Nast, focuses on a tech incubator inside San Quentin State Prison.

Timoner's sixth feature documentary, Brand: A Second Coming (2015), about the journey of comedian/author/activist Russell Brand, was chosen to be the opening night film at the 2015 SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas and was later picked up by Showtime. She was the sixth and final director to work on the film, Albert Maysles being one of the predecessors.

Timoner was invited by real estate entrepreneur Jimmy Stice to visit his for-profit sustainability program, Kalu Yala, in the Panamaian Jungle. Timoner filmed her next project around the business venture in 2016. Spike Jonze picked up the project for Viceland and the footage was released as the ten-hour docu-series Jungletown (2017).

Timoner debuted her narrative feature Mapplethorpe (2018), titled The Perfect Moment in pre-production, at the 2018 Tribeca Festival, where it was nominated for Best Narrative Feature. It is based on the life and career of the controversial portrait photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, starring Matt Smith as the titular artist. The project received a grant through the Tribeca Film Institute's 9th annual All Access Program and was invited to participate in the Sundance Institute Director's, Writer's and Producer's Labs - receiving an Adrienne Shelley Grant. It was later picked up by Samuel 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.

2020s 

In 2020, Ondi Timoner directed Coming Clean, a feature documentary about addiction through the eyes of recovering addicts and political leaders. The film premiered at the Bentonville Film Festival on August 6, 2020 and won the Impact Award at the 2020 and Special Jury Prize for Editing at Sidewalk Film Festival 2020.

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.  The film was shortlisted for the 2023 Academy Awards and received an Emmy Nomination shortly after. In 2023, Ondi completed her documentary about the disruption of finance, The New Americans: Gaming a Revolution, which premiered at SXSW.

Timoner has directed All 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.

Other work
Timoner founded, directed and produced A Total Disruption (2012). 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 film Obey the artist, about graphic artist Shepard Fairey, premiered at the SXSW Film Festival in 2013. Timoner's short film, Amanda Palmer f---ing rocks, about musician Amanda Palmer premiered in 2014 at the Tribeca Festival and played other festivals, winning the Sheffield Shorts Award at the Sheffield DocFest.

Politics 
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 screening Last Flight Home, along with in-person Q&As, providing testimony from the Timoner family, political advocates and experts about the right to die. 
Timoner and family were in Washington in early June 2023 to screen and discuss the film at an event presented by the U.S. Representative Brittany 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.

Select filmography

Feature film 
Dig! (2004)
Join Us (2007)
We Live in Public (2009)
Cool It (2010)
Brand: A Second Coming (2015)
Mapplethorpe (2018)
Coming Clean (2020)
Mapplethorpe: The Director's Cut (2021)
Last Flight Home (2022)
The New Americans: Gaming a Revolution (2023)

Short film 
 Recycle (2004)
 Library of Dust (2011)
 Amanda F***ing Palmer On The Rocks (2014)
 Russell Brand's The Birds (2014)
 Obey the Artist (2014)
 The Last Mile (2015)
 3000 Miles and Woman with a Video Camera

Television 
The Nature of The Beast (TV, 1994)
Sound Affects (TV, 2000)
Jungletown (TV, 2017)

Select awards and recognition
In 1999, Ondi was Grammy-nominated for Best Long Form Music Video for an EPK she directed about the band Fastball.

 2004 — Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival for Dig! 
 2004 — Best Director Jury Prize at BendFilm Festival for Dig!
 2007 — Special Jury Prize at the Sidewalk Film Festival for Join Us
 2007 — Grand Jury Prize for Documentary Short at Seattle International Film Festival for Library of Dust
 2009 — Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival for We Live in Public
 2015 — No Limits Award at the Ashland Independent Film Festival for Brand: A Second Coming
 2015 — Dramatic Storytelling Award at the Sarasota Film Festival for Brand: A Second Coming 
 2012 — Ashland Independent Film Festival's Rogue Award
 2014 — Sheffield Short Doc Award at the Sheffield DocFest for Amanda F---ing Palmer on the Rocks
 2017 — Kodak Auteur Award
 2018 — Audience Awards at Sidewalk Film Festival for Mapplethorpe
 2018 — Audience Awards at Tribeca Festival for Mapplethorpe
 2018 — Best Director at Long Beach International Film Festival for Mapplethorpe
 2020 — Impact Award at the Naples International Film Festival 2020 for Coming Clean
 2020 — Special Jury Prize for Editing at Sidewalk Film Festival 2020 for Coming Clean
 2022 — Special Screenings selection at Sundance Film Festival
 2022 — Robert and Anne Drew Award for Documentary Excellence at DOC NYC for Last Flight Home
 2022 — Best Feature Documentary Award at Dallas International Film Festival for Last Flight Home
 2022 — Filmmaker Impact Award at Hamptons Documentary Festival for Last Flight Home
 2022 — Best Documentary Feature at Woodstock Film Festival for Last Flight Home
 2022 — Critics Choice Award at Key West Film Festival for Last Flight Home
 2023 — Best Documentary Feature Nominee for Girls on Film Awards for Last Flight Home
 2023 — WGA Award Nominee Documentary Screenplay for the Writers Guild of America for Last Flight Home
 2023 — Cinema Eye Honors "The Unforgettables" Award for Last Flight Home
 2023 — Cinema Eye Honors "Audience Choice Prize" nominee for Last Flight Home 
 2023 — Oscars Shortlist for Best Documentary Feature for Last Flight Home
 2023 — Emmy Nomination: Exceptional Merit for Last Flight Home

Personal life
Timoner is the daughter of Eli Timoner, founder of Air Florida. She has two siblings. Timoner has one son, born in 2003. She married composer, Morgan Doctor, at the Telluride Film Festival in 2022.

See also 
 List of female film and television directors
 List of LGBT-related films directed by women

References

Further reading

 TED Talk: Ondi Timoner, 2014, When genius and insanity hold hands
Interview: Steve Appleford, 2014, LA TIMES: As technology explodes, A Total Disruption is there to record it.
Interview: Joanna Pocock, 2016, 3:AM Magazine: My Afternoon with Ondi.
Interview: Laurie Brookins, 2019, The Hollywood Reporter: Mapplethorpe Exhibition Opens at Guggenheim Ahead of Upcoming Biopic.
Interview: Naomi Fry, 2019, The New Yorker: From H.R.H. to S & M.
Review: Gary Goldstein, 2019, The LA Times: Review: 'Mapplethorpe's' Matt Smith skillfully evokes the boundary-pushing photographer
Review: Elizabeth Weitzman, 2022, The Wrap "Last Flight Home" Film Review: Ondi Timoner's Beautiful Tribute to Her Father Documents His Last Days
Review: Ben Kenigsberg, 2022, ‘Last Flight Home’ Review: An Intimate Memorial
Interview: Bianna Golodryga on CNN's Amanpour & Company, 2023, Her father exercised his right to die. She filmed his final days. | CNN
Review: Daniel Fienberg, 2023, ‘The New Americans: Gaming a Revolution’ Review: A Punchy Primer on the Intersection of the Internet, Finance and Extremism
Review: Owen Gleiberman, 2023, ‘The New Americans: Gaming a Revolution’ Review: A Heady Documentary Looks at How Stock Trading Turned Into a ‘Rebellious’ Addiction
Review: Damon Wise, 2023, ‘The New Americans: Gaming A Revolution’ Review: Ondi Timoner’s Provocative Doc Previews The World That Awaits Us – SXSW
Article: Akiva Gottlieb, 2023, Ondi Timoner documents her father's intentional final days in "Last Flight Home"
Guest Column: Ondi Timoner, 2023, Guest Column: ‘Last Flight Home’ Director on Becoming a “Death With Dignity” Activist After Father’s Final Moments

External links
 Interloper Films
 A Total Disruption
 Interview in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
 Interview on SuicideGirls
 Filmmaker Profile on Snagfilms
 

Living people
21st-century American women
American documentary filmmakers
American film directors
American women documentary filmmakers
Yale University alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)
Sundance Film Festival award winners