Director, Ondi Timoner

Director, Ondi Timoner

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

We were compelled to make COMING CLEAN to infuse the subject of opioid addiction with hope and solutions for our recovery. The film aims to bring empathy to a highly stigmatized subject by exploring the sources of the pain we are medicating. We have crafted a unique animation style and an often surprising soundscape throughout to engage our audience in this difficult subject matter while taking them on a decidedly hopeful and poetic journeyWe see harrowing and ultimately empowering stories of personal connection unfold over several years, as our characters shed the stigma and personal shame to unite against the monster drug of dependency, and impact policy on the national stage. 
In fact, the greatest learning for me in making this transformative film was that the opposite of addiction is connection. We need to forge bridges across the lines of race, location, class, and social or political standing in order to pull ourselves out of addiction and make the changes necessary to get people the help they need. After all, 80% of addicts are hiding it for fear of losing their seat at the table. These people are our doctors, our lawyers, our mothers, brothers, and sisters. So the intersection of personal and political is inherent in the stories we’ve focused upon, and the message is in the medium. 

ABOUT ONDI TIMONER

Ondi Timoner is an internationally-acclaimed filmmaker whose work focuses on “impossible visionaries” (and COMING CLEAN is no different). She has the rare distinction of winning the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance twice, for DIG! (2004) about the collision of art and commerce and WE LIVE IN PUBLIC (2009) about the loss of privacy online as predicted in a bunker in NY over the turn of the millenium. Both films were acquired by MoMA NY for its permanent collection. Since then, Ondi’s created award-winning films / series such as JOIN US about mind control, COOL IT about climate change, “BRAND: A Second Coming” about the transformation of Russell Brand, JUNGLETOWN about an intentional community in remote Panama, COMING CLEAN about the opioid crisis, and MAPPLETHORPE a film she also wrote and produced about Robert Mapplethorpe starring Matt Smith (recommend the Director’s Cut on Hulu). Her latest feature documentary, LAST FLIGHT HOME about the life and death of her father, Eli Timoner, premiered at Sundance 2022 to stellar reviews and was acquired by MTV Documentary Films for a fall theatrical release. She’s currently directing a feature about the disruption and decentralization of finance. Ondi is an active member of the DGA, PGA and Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences.