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.

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 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.

The film focuses on Josh Harris, an American internet entrepreneur who founded Pseudo.com, a webcasting site that filed for bankruptcy in 1993.

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

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.

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 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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.