Ondi Timoner — the only filmmaker to win the Sundance Grand Jury award twice in history — graduated from Yale University cum laude and founded Interloper Films in 1994.
She has achieved worldwide critical acclaim with her feature length documentary, DIG! – which took home the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival (2004). Her short film, Recycle (2005) was a winner at the ICG Awards, and screened at both Sundance and Cannes. Both DIG! and WE LIVE IN PUBLIC were bestowed the rare honor of having been acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in NYC for the permanent collection.
Ondi graduated Yale University cum laude and founded her own production company, Interloper Films in 1994. At Interloper, she filmed the documentaries Voices From Inside Time about incarcerated women in Connecticut (winner of the Yale Film Prize), and later, The Nature of the Beast, about one woman’s heroic journey through the criminal justice system (winner of the Bettina Russel Grand Jury Prize in Canada and The National Society for Visual Anthropology Commendation), which aired on PBS. She later went on to shoot Dam Nation, about the oldest living civilization of sub-Saharan Africa threatened by a WTO dam.
Ondi Timoner’s passion for the underdog is equaled only by her passion for music. Through Interloper she has made music videos and music documentaries for The Dandy Warhols, The Vines, Paul Westerberg, Lucinda Williams, Vanessa Carlton, The Jonas Brothers, and DMC, among others. The soundtrack for JOIN US was carefully crafted from the brilliant work of Sufjan Stevens and Iron & Wine, with a haunting score by Richie Kulchar. WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’s soundtrack features selections from David Bowie, NIN, Janes Addiction, Jesus & Mary Chain, Sigur Ros among others – and a seamless score by Marco D’Ambrosio and Ben Decter.
Since DIG!, Ondi has also directed commercials for McDonald’s, State Farm, DeVry, the Army and Ford, which has helped her independently fund her latest film projects, JOIN US, released in 2007, and her next feature release, WE LIVE IN PUBLIC.
Whether it’s rock music, religious cults, or the virtual world of the Internet, Ondi always takes the viewer deep into worlds they would never otherwise explore. Her iconoclastic work is noteworthy for telling stories that unfold over time with incredible access and emotional depth.
In March 2008, Ondi traveled to Ethiopia to shoot THE GREATEST GIFT, a short film for the non-profit organization, One Love Africa Schools. In October, Ondi returned to Africa, traveling to Ethiopia and Senegal, where she directed/produced two shorts for the prestigious annual show CNN: HEROES.
On the narrative end, Interloper Films and Boston Diva have teamed up to develop The Perfect Moment, about the powerfully controversial life and work of Robert Mapplethorpe, which Ondi is set to direct. She is currently directing COOL IT, a documentary about the economic and social issues and potential solutions to balancing climate change and the overwhelming, solvable human needs of our planet at this crucial tipping point.
