We Live in Public
Filmmaker: Ondi Timoner
USA / 2009 / 90 mins / English
Opening Weekend Date: 13 November 2009
Cinemas screening the film: Greenwich Picturehouse, Odeon Panton St., Ritzy & Key Cities
On the 40th anniversary of the invention of the Internet, We Live in Public reveals the effect the web is having on our society, as seen through the eyes of "the greatest internet pioneer you've never heard of," artist, futurist and visionary Josh Harris.
Award-winning director Ondi Timoner documented Harris's tumultuous life for more than a decade to create a riveting, cautionary tale of what to expect as the virtual world inevitably takes control of our lives. Harris, often called the "Warhol of the Web," founded Pseudo.com, the first Internet television network during the infamous dotcom boom of the 1990s. He also curated and funded the ground breaking project "Quiet" in an underground bunker in NYC where 100 people lived together on camera for 30 days at the turn of the millennium. With Quiet, Harris proved how we willingly trade our privacy for the connection and recognition we all deeply desire, but with every technological advancement such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter, becomes more elusive. Through his experiments, including a six-month stint living with his girlfriend under 24-hour electronic surveillance which led to his mental collapse, Harris demonstrated the price we pay for living in public.
About the Director: Ondi Timoner
Ondi Timoner-the only filmmaker to ever win the Sundance Grand Jury Price twice-graduated from Yale University cum laude and founded Interloper Films in 1994. She 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. Since Dig!, Timoner 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 (2007) and We Live in Public. Whether its rock music, religious cults, or the virtual world of the Internet, Timoner 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, Timoner travelled to Ethiopia to shoot The Greates Gift, a short film for the non-profit organization, One Love Africa Schools. In October 2008, she returned to Africa, travelling to Ethiopia and Senegal, where she directed/produced two shorts for the prestigious annual show CNN:Heroes. She is currently directing and producing Cool It, a documentary which explores the issues of global warming from a socio-economic perspective as they relate to the immediate needs of the developing world. Timoner's narrative directorial debut will be The Perfect Moment, about the controversial life and work of Robert Mapplethorpe, which she is set to produce through her company Interloper Films in partnership with Eliza Dushku and her company, Boston Diva. Interloper Films is also developing I Think I Killed a Sorority Girl, a narrative film that draws parallels between the gang life and frat life in South Central, Los Angeles.
"A fascinating study of a man on a mission"
Empire
"This astounding new docu burrows into the thin and darkly funny spaces between artistry and vanity, isolation and community, collaboration and exploitation, sanity and madness."
Variety