Ondi Timoner is an internationally-acclaimed filmmaker whose work focuses on “impossible visionaries.'' She has the rare distinction of being the only person to win the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance twice: for DIG! (2004), about the collision of art and commerce through the eyes of two rival rock bands, and for WE LIVE IN PUBLIC (2009), which predicts the loss of privacy with life online and the advent of social media through a bunker in Manhattan over the turn of the millennium. Both films were acquired by New York’s MoMA for its permanent collection.
Ondi’s most personal film, LAST FLIGHT HOME, about the extraordinary life and intentional death of her father, Eli Timoner, premiered at Sundance and Telluride in 2022, was acquired by MTV Documentary Films / Paramount for a theatrical release, Shortlisted for the Academy Award, nominated for the WGA Award for Best Documentary and for the Emmy for Exceptional Merit, and received The Humanitas Award for Best Documentary, the Impact Award at Hamptons Docfest, the Critics Award at Key West Film Festival, the Grand Jury Prize at the Woodstock Film Festival.
Ondi’s 2023 film, “THE NEW AMERICANS: Gaming a Revolution”, is a visceral journey into the intersection of finance, media and extremism which uncovers the explosive and irreversible ramifications of our digital future. It premiered at SXSW where it was acquired by Paramount, and it is currently on Netflix.
In 2023, Ondi and her brother David reunited to create DIG! XX, enhanced, extended and reimagined cut of her cult classic film DIG! - which premiered at Sundance in 2024, in honor of its 20th anniversary. DIG! XX features a new narration from BJM frontman Joel Gion and brings this timeless tale up to today and is having a theatrical release across the world in January 2025.
In 2024, Ondi and team premiered THE INN BETWEEN - a new film which invites audiences inside the only hospice and recuperative care facility for homeless in America, to discover the miracles that can happen when human beings are given a chance regain their hope, dignity and feeling of belonging - at the Woodstock Int’l Film Festival where it was nominated for Best U.S. Documentary.
Also in 2024, they are bringing another film that brings a model of compassion and partnership to our world at this crucial juncture. It’s called ALL GOD’S CHILDREN, and it’s an intimate five-year journey following the ambitious partnership between Rabbi Rachel Timoner and her congregation at CBE, Brooklyn’s largest reform temple, and Reverend Dr. Robert Waterman and Antioch Baptist Church its oldest baptist church to solve racism and anti-semitism by becoming family - which is the Centerpiece Film at DocNYC, also nominated for Best U.S. Documentary.
Ondi's catalog of distinguished feature documentaries also includes: the award-winning feature COMING CLEAN (2020) about solutions to the opioid epidemic; BRAND: A Second Coming (Opening Film, SXSW 2015) about the evolution of comedian/author/activist Russell Brand; COOL IT (TIFF Premiere / Roadside Attractions 2010) about controversial economist Bjorn Lomborg and solutions to climate change; the award-winning JOIN US (2007) about mind control; the award-wining film THE NATURE OF THE BEAST (1994) about Bonnie Jean Foreshaw and the miscarriage of justice she endured; and the critically-acclaimed 10-hour nonfiction series JUNGLETOWN about building “the world’s most sustainable town” (Viceland, 2017.)
Her first scripted film, MAPPLETHORPE, which she also wrote, produced and edited, starred Matt Smith and premiered at TriBeCa Film Festival in 2018, winning the 2nd Audience Award, & nine Audience and Best Feature Awards at festivals across the world before being acquired by Samuel Goldwyn for a theatrical release and Hulu. The original version, “MAPPLETHORPE The Director’s Cut” was Official Selection for Sundance 2018, can be found on Amazon now and is the recommended version.
She is currently in production on ALL THAT WE ARE about the breathtaking love between 5x World Champion Triathlete, Lesley Paterson, and her brilliant psychologist husband, Simon Marshall, writers of the Oscar-winning film “All Quiet on the Western Front”, as they set about adapting Viktor Frankl's foundational manifesto on the human condition, Man's Search for Meaning, while racing to find a cure for Simon's Stage 4 pancreatic cancer diagnosis, and THE RACE TO CATCH THE LAST NAZIS, the last unfolding story about the the most horrific and unspeakably tragic period in human history, following the German government’s Central Office for the Investigation of Nationalist Socialist Crimes as they attempt to bring the very last living NAZI’s to justice and reconcile their troubled past.
Ondi’s most notable short films include: Recycle (2005), Library of Dust (SXSW 2011), Amanda F***ing Palmer On The Rocks (TriBeca 2013), Obey The Artist (SXSW 2014), RUSSELL BRANDS THE BIRD (2014), The Last Mile (SXSW 2015). Her career began with a Grammy nomination for Best Long-Form Video (“Fastball: They Wanted the Highway”) and since, she has directed music videos for The Jonas Brothers, The Vines, OK GO, DMC, The Dandy Warhols and commercials for State Farm, Ford, and President Clinton, among others.
Ondi also moves in front of the camera to produce and host talk shows and podcasts that capture the zeitgeist. From 2011-2016, she created over 300 episodes of BYOD (Bring Your Own Doc) interviewing the top documentary makers in the world; from 2018-2020 she created WeTalk, a traveling talk show and event bringing together women shaping culture across arts, entrepreneurship, government & technology for conversation and change “taking #MeToo to #WeDo”; and from 2012-2016, she created A TOTAL DISRUPTION, a website featuring online shorts & classes dedicated to telling stories of entrepreneurs & artists using technology to innovate the way we live. Subjects included Shepard Fairey, Amanda Palmer, Moby, Jack Dorsey (Twitter), Kevin Systrom (Instagram), Alexis Ohanian (Reddit), and Reid Hoffman (Linked In)
Ondi is an Emmy and WGA-Nominated filmmaker who was awarded the prestigious Humantis Award and the Visionary Award for Observational Filmmaking at Doc NYC in 2022. Some other career achievement awards include Kodak's Auteur Award, the Maverick Award, the Rogue Award, and the No Limits Award. She serves as the Chair of Nonfiction for Special Projects at the DGA, is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the WGA, the IDA, Film Fatales & Women in Film.