What an incredibly special film that we only see a few times in life that forces us to bear witness to the one thing that unites us all: death. Ondi Timoner opens up her personal life by taking us on a journey with her family as her father chooses to end his life in Last Flight Home.
Anyone with an elderly parent faces tough choices on what to do for the best. Ondi Timoner’s deeply personal, immensely moving Last Flight Home strikes an instant chord as she documents her ailing father’s desire to end his life. A loving portrait of her father and the family who supports him takes a real emotional hold and seems guaranteed to provoke discussions on what constitutes a good death and who gets to decide.
MTV Documentary Films has acquired worldwide rights to Ondi Timoner’s “LAST FLIGHT HOME,” a moving and deeply personal portrait of family dealing with the last days of their patriarch. The documentary had several bidders and the sale was highly competitive.
When Timoner began making documentaries in college, it was a bit of a low moment for the genre. People had begun to associate documentary films with boring history lectures and public service announcements. But as she soon quickly discovered, documentaries have the capability of being so much more. In her own words, the real lives of individuals are often stranger and more interesting than anything a screenwriter could hope to imagine.
Behind a white picket fence, on an unremarkable suburban street, we discover Eli Timoner, who founded Air Florida, the fastest growing airline in the world in the 1970's. During his final days, we discover his extraordinary life filled with incredible success and devastating setbacks, and most importantly, an innate goodness which won him the enduring love and support of his family. Through stunning verité footage recorded by his middle child, LAST FLIGHT HOME takes audiences on a heart-wrenching ride through Timoner's life, illustrating a modern day success story built on the power of human connection.
“’LAST FLIGHT HOME’ unforgettable documentary…is truly a rare gift for viewers.”
Generally, open discussions about death and dying in the U.S. are awkward at best and ignored at worst. It is often said that a son or daughter truly becomes an adult when they lose one or both parents. Yet, even when a parent has a prolonged illness and the inevitable is near, it remains difficult to accept the fate and to put those feelings and fears into comprehensible words. Sometimes, after a parent has died, surviving family members feel guilty in realizing that there are things they could have expressed to their father or mother before they passed. Often, we wish that we had more time to spend with them or tell them how much we love them.
"LAST FLIGHT HOME moves us by involving us…by the end of the film, we are moved to tears as if we’ve also just embraced and lost a loved one we’ve known for much longer than the 100-minute runtime. More than mournful emotion, though, LAST FLIGHT HOME leaves us with a shared catharsis..."
OT: “Last Flight Home” is about my extraordinary father, Eli Timoner, and our family as we prepare to say goodbye to him forever. I never expected to turn the camera onto my family until my father decided to end his own life in late January 2021. I was just desperate to bottle my wonderful father up somehow – and this was the only way I knew how. He was my best friend, my greatest pal and champion, and the most inspiring person my family and I, and most of our community, had ever known.”
There’s a Jewish phrase that people often say after someone dies: “May their memory be a blessing.” It represents different things to different people, but is intended as an active remembrance, a way to both honor and extend the virtue of the deceased. Ondi Timoner’s deeply moving documentary, “Last Flight Home,” ends with a version of this phrase. But every scene serves as an example of its many meaningful facets.
“I never expected to turn the camera onto my family until my father decided to end his own life,” explains Timoner. “It was very shocking that he asked to die and the way he asked was very desperate. It was a turn on a dime because if you knew dad, he was the most tenacious person. He was always hanging on and going to make it through. He was so positive, but he was also very smart, and he knew the writing was on the wall.”
Coming Clean thoroughly examines opioid addiction by detailing the progression of abuse, personal stories, and interviews with experts and political leaders. Instead of simply listening to accounts from those that are addicted to the drug, you also hear from a variety of family members that share their perspective on how their life has changed at the hands of a pill or injection.
Director Ondi Timoner is hoping to change the way we view the opioid crisis with her new documentary Coming Clean. Coming Clean starts at the roots of addiction and flowers out to show us that people do recover from addiction and that the opioid crisis is far from over despite it falling from the headlines as COVID-19 flooded media coverage. Ondi Timoner was our guest on WKEI’s Noon Hour on Friday.
The original and complete cut of Ondi Timoner’s 2018 feature film MAPPLETHORPE will be available on Hulu and all digital platforms on April 2nd. MAPPLETHORPE THE DIRECTOR’S CUT features an all-new soundtrack and previously unseen footage of the artist’s childhood, his embattled relationship with his father and the Church, the nuances of his photo process and key relationships with Patti Smith and powerhouse art collector, Sam Wagstaff.
It was fairly early on in the coronavirus crisis when Geena Davis and Wendy Guerrerorealized their Bentonville Film Festival could not go on as planned. The annual event in Bentonville, Arkansas, normally scheduled for late April or early May, was put on hold, along with virtually everything else in the world. But unlike Cannes and SXSW and Comic-Con, Bentonville 2020 is ultimately happening after all.
Ondi Timoner’s new documentary COMING CLEAN, which examines addiction through the eyes of recovering addicts and political leaders, as they come together to bring the profiteers to justice and rebuild in the wake of the deadliest drug epidemic in our history, is set to premiere in competition in a 24 hour virtual screening nationwide hosted by the Bentonville Film Festival in August 2020.
Follows comedian, author and activist Russell Brand as he dives headlong into drugs, sex and fame in an attempt to find happiness, only to realize that our culture feeds us bad ideas and empty idols. Through his stand up, Brand explores his own true icons – Gandhi, Che Guevara, Malcolm X and Jesus Christ – and evolves from addict & Hollywood star to an unexpected political disruptor and newfound hero to the underserved. Will Brand hold fast against the roar of criticism to break out of the very system that built him?
On the latest episode of WeTalk, we hear from four women who have been leading for years in different aspects of the entertainment industry and paving the way for more women to follow. Their conversation explores how storytelling differs when it’s from the female POV, the various inclusion initiatives that have been generated over the last several years, and if/how things are changing for women across the industry. We also learn about the work of these pioneers and discover what’s coming from them next.
Late last year, Talkhouse Film contributors and a select few friends of the site voted on their favorite theatrical releases of 2019; you can see the aggregated results here. Below are ballots from a selection of the filmmakers who took part in the voting process.
There remains one group we’ve yet to hear from when it comes to the best films of 2019: the directors who made them. IndieWire has reached out to a number of our favorite filmmakers to share their lists and thoughts on what made this year great.
In this panel, we will hear from three women who for years have been leaders in different aspects of the entertainment industry, paving the way for more women to follow. We’ll explore how storytelling differs when it’s from the female point of view, the various inclusion initiatives that have been created over the past few years, and if/how things are changing for women across the industry. We will also hear about the work of these pioneers and discover what’s coming from them next.