- Ondi Timoner
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Ondi Timoner 
Ondi Timoner, 2009Born Ondi Timoner
December 6, 1972
Miami, FloridaOccupation film director, producer and editor Years active 1994–present Ondi Timoner (born December 6, 1972) is an American film director, producer and editor.
Contents
History
Ondi Timoner is the only director to win the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival twice.[1] Born in Miami, Florida, Timoner graduated cum laude from Yale University, with a double major in American Studies (concentration in Film and Literature) and Theater Studies. Her 2004 Sundance-winning doc, DIG! about the collision of art & commerce through the lives of two bands, and her 2009 top prize-winner, We Live In Public, about an internet visionary who showed by example how willingly we will trade our privacy and eventually sanity in the virtual age, were both acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York for their permanent collection.[2] She also directed the socio-political feature documentaries, Join Us (2007), about the cult epidemic in America, and The Nature of the Beast (1994), a hard-hitting look at the US prison system, and co-directed the short film Recycle, which premiered at Sundance in 2005, and screened at Cannes and in schools worldwide. Timoner just premiered her fifth feature-length documentary, Cool It - a film that blasts through the polarizing logjam of the climate change debate to bring a solid plan for solutions - at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2010, and releasing it theatrically November 12 through Roadside Attractions.[3][4][5]
In any format, Ondi loves to use her camera as a bridge to bring herself and the audience deep into worlds they may never otherwise enter. In 2000, Timoner created, produced and directed the original VH-1 series Sound Affects,[6] about music’s effect at critical moments in people’s lives. She has directed commercials and web series for such companies as McDonalds, State Farm, Ford, the US Army, and others, and is currently helming the next two short films for Honda’s innovative series, entitled “Dream the Impossible,” which will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011.
DIG!
Main article: DiG!While filming music videos and documentaries for Interloper, Timoner simultaneously produced, directed, and edited DIG!, which chronicles seven years of the lives of two neo-psychedelic bands, The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre. After its release in 2004, the film won the Grand Jury Prize 2004 at the Sundance Film Festival, and is now part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.
Timoner has completed several other documentaries: Recycle (short), winner at the ICG Awards, and presented at Sundance, Cannes, and Silverdocs; Join Us, a documentary about mind control in the United States; We Live In Public, Cool It, a documentary about climate change, and Library of Dust (short), a documentary about thousands of canisters of cremated remains found at the Oregon State Hospital.
We Live in Public
Main article: We Live In PublicTimoner debuted We Live In Public at the Sundance Film Festival. The film considers some of the darker effects of modern media and technology on our personal identity through an examination of "the greatest internet pioneer you've never heard of", Josh Harris. The dot-com millionaire had an affinity for expensive fascist-themed social experiments that eventually led to his mental breakdown.[7] We Live In Public won the Grand Jury Prize award in the U.S. documentary category at the Sundance Film Festival.[8]
Upcoming projects
Having made dramatic documentaries with strong narratives (and witnessed many documentaries that fit this bill) Ondi likes to call her next directorial effort a “pre-scripted actor film.” She is slated to direct a narrative feature film, entitled Mapplethorpe, and it will be about the life of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, reportedly starring James Franco, which her company Interloper Films and Eliza Dushku's Boston Diva are producing. Ms. Timoner attended the Sundance Director’s and Screenwriter’s Lab as a fellow in June to develop Mapplethorpe, and is preparing to shoot the film in late 2011.
Filmography
- Library of Dust (2011)
- Cool It (2010)
- We Live in Public (2009)
- Join Us (2007)
- Recycle (2004)
- DIG! (2004)
- Switched! (TV Series) (2003)
- Sound Affects (TV) (2000)
- The Nature of the Beast (TV) (1994)
References
- ^ "All these wonderful things: Sundance Film Festival". Edendale.typepad.com. http://edendale.typepad.com/weblog/sundance_film_festival/. Retrieved 2011-01-31.
- ^ "We Live in Public". MoMA. 2009-04-05. http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/film_screenings/6355. Retrieved 2011-01-31.
- ^ "Cool It (2010)". Box Office Mojo. 2010-12-30. http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=coolit.htm. Retrieved 2011-01-31.
- ^ O'Connell, Sean (2010-09-01). "TIFF Toronto Cool It Roadside Attractions". HollywoodNews.com. http://www.hollywoodnews.com/2010/09/01/controversial-tiff-doc-cool-it-finds-home-at-roadside-attractions/. Retrieved 2011-01-31.
- ^ Global Warming and Common Sense. New York Times, November 11, 2010
- ^ "Brad Balfour: Q&A: Award-Winning Documentarian Ondi Timoner Rocks With We Live In Public". Huffingtonpost.com. 2010-03-01. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brad-balfour/qa-documentarian-ondi-tim_b_481435.html. Retrieved 2011-01-31.
- ^ "The greatest Web pioneer you've never heard of - CNN.com". CNN. March 3, 2009. http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/03/03/weliveinpublic.onditimoner/. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
- ^ "Sundance Film Festival". Festival.sundance.org. http://festival.sundance.org/2009/film_events/films/we_live_in_public. Retrieved 2011-01-31.
External links
Categories:- Female film directors
- American documentary filmmakers
- Living people
- Yale University alumni
- 1972 births
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