Ondi Timoner was in Budapest filming a Holocaust documentary when she learned her house in Altadena had been destroyed in the Eaton Fire. When she was finally able to fly back to Los Angeles, she had little time to absorb what she’d lost, going straight from LAX to the sold-out “DIG! XX” screening at Vidiots in Eagle Rock.
The mood was already nostalgic at the event, with shared memories of the chaotic shoot of the original film, 2004’s “DIG!” But after the devastating fires, which also took the home of her brother, the film’s editor David Timoner, the gathering of the film and music community also became a wake of sorts.
“I love that this loving audience was here,” she said of the sold-out event, where she and David were met with hugs, condolences and offers to help catalog everything she lost in the fire. Vidiots gifted Ondi and David, as well as their mother Elissa, with branded merchandise from the theater and video store to help replace their lost wardrobe.
“It’s just really sad to be home and not go home. I knew this would suck so hard to be back,” she told TheWrap in the lobby after the screening, as friends and fans politely interrupted to offer their love and support.
The following Monday, Timoner missed the intro to her new documentary “All God’s Children” at the Museum of Tolerance because she and her wife Morgan were combing through the rubble of their house. Her film archives and all her other possessions were a total loss, but she found remnants of her two Sundance awards, which were still recognizable but damaged beyond repair.
The crowd at the museum was moved by the emotional, sometimes difficult film about a Brooklyn rabbi — Timoner’s sister Rachel — and a Bed-Stuy Baptist pastor working together to fight antisemitism and racism. At least a dozen attendees, from a young woman who had come in from Las Vegas to an older gentleman with a white beard, thanked her for the film and marveled that she could keep going despite her loss.
The film, which still needs a distributor, will be shown at a private screening at Sundance, as will Timoner’s other new documentary, “The Inn Between,” about a hospice in Utah for the homeless. Timoner recalled the moment, during an ABC News interview in New York on Jan. 15, where she realized that she, too, was now homeless.
“It can happen in an instant,” Timoner told TheWrap. “I’m not trying to say that David and I are in the position of the people that I filmed [for ‘The Inn Between’]. I have resources,” she said, praising friends and the film community who have been hosting her, her wife and their pets since the fires that destroyed more than 7,000 homes in the area.
Timoner was touched by the outpouring of support, including from Sundance Director Eugene Hernandez, who, ahead of her return to the fest, was sizing festival gear to replace her lost winter clothes.
“I told him quite honestly that for me it feels like returning to my Sundance home,” Timoner said Wednesday as she prepared to head to Park City.
OK, yeah, I lost my house. It doesn’t mean that I’m not totally bereft, but the work helped me.” – Ondi Timoner
Former Utah Congressman Ben McAdams will host a Sundance screening of “The Inn Between” on Sunday, with members from the hospice in Salt Lake City joining her for a Q&A. The following day, “All God’s Children” EP Geralyn Dreyfous is hosting a Q&A with executive producers Aaron, Julia and Marcus Gershenberg.
Timoner has a 20-year history with the festival, having premiered “DIG!” in 2004 and “We Live in Public” in 2009. Both films won the fest’s U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize, making her the only director to win the award twice. Fortunately, both films are part of the Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection in New York.
When the fires erupted, Timoner was in Budapest and had planned to interview a Holocaust survivor named Joseph (she didn’t want to disclose his last name) when a neighbor texted that her house had burned down.
Timoner thought, “I’m not going to let Joseph down. I’m going to show up for Joseph,” she said of deciding in the moment not to give in to despair.
“I sat down with him and he warmed my heart,” she said of the interview. “He survived and had a family. It was so beautiful to be with him. And then I was like, ‘F–k it. My house burned down, but his father was murdered. He was supposed to die 17 times over, and he’s sitting there. He’s 86 there and he’s having a beer.’”
She added, “So, OK, yeah, I lost my house. It doesn’t mean that I’m not totally bereft, but the work helped me.”
While Timoner isn’t sure where she and her wife will be staying next (possibly at a friend’s vacant apartment in New York), actress Tara Subkoff has started a GoFundMe for Timoner and her family. Both Timoner and her brother lived within a mile of their mother’s house in Altadena, which survived the fires.
Oscilloscope, which is distributing “Dig! XX,” is also donating a portion of the sales of T-shirts for the film to help victims of the Los Angeles wildfires.
