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Why filmmaker Ondi Timoner believes ‘It’s our fear of death that changes our lives’

The acclaimed director's latest documentary follows her father’s last days as he goes through the process of assisted suicide

November 24, 2022 16:34
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4 min read

Sitting down to talk to writer-director and esteemed documentarian Ondi Timoner last month about her latest film, I had no idea that she would be the one who would end up consoling me as I became visibly upset while she spoke about her own father’s legacy.

Such was the emotional power of Timoner’s film, which documents her father’s last days going through the process of what is called in California “medical aid in dying” but elsewhere better known as assisted suicide. Having lost my own father five years ago without having had the chance to say my final goodbyes, I am suddenly reminded of all the things I wish we had told each other.

Two-time recipient of the Sundance Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize for her documentary features Dig! (2004) and We Live in Public (2009), Timoner had no idea she was making a film for public consumption when she decided to document her father’s last days.

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