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Sundance: Grand Jury Prize Winner Documentary 2009 We Live In Public, A Film by Ondi Timoner MoMA: Permanent Collection

Archive for October, 2009

Ondi at the London Film Festival + Opening Night Party Info

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

Director Ondi Timoner is en route to London for the Friday October 23 launch of WE LIVE IN PUBLIC at the London Film Festival.  We have two concurrent screenings:
Friday October 23  6:15pm   Vue Screen 7
Friday October 23  6:30pm   Vue Screen 6
For more info about the festival and to get your tickets, click HERE:

Ondi will be on-hand for a Q+A afterwards, and then bring your ticket stub for entry into our afterparty!
Friday 23 October
8pm onwards
Albannach
66 Trafalgar Square
London
WC2N 5DS

Our parties have been **off the hook**. Don’t miss it.

If you are in the area but can’t make opening night and the festivities, don’t fret — WE LIVE IN PUBLIC has two more LFF screenings.
Sunday October 25  1:30pm  Vue Screen 6
Monday October 26  3:30pm  Vue Screen 5
Info and tickets here: http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff/node/529

Tell your London friends!

Ondi and Josh Rock an Interview + Freak Out Tia Carrere at our Variety Screenings

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

We are honored that Variety chose We Live In Public to be part of a special screening series.  They hosted us in New York recently and brought us to the Arclight in Los Angeles last night.  We had packed houses and amazing crowds — thanks Variety!

Check out this post-screening interview by Variety from our New York appearance:

And one starlet from last night’s screening was so spooked by our cautionary tale about living in public, she couldn’t resist tweeting about it ;) .  Thanks Tia!

Picture 4

“Disturbing”… “Provocative”… It’s Another Press Round-Up!

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

As WE LIVE IN PUBLIC tours around the world, we are racking up tons of great press and blog attention.  Big kisses to the Windy City and Canada for all of the recent love, and we are excited by the media response in the UK that is just starting to roll in as we gear up to play the London Film Festival…

National Public Radio / WBEZ
Eight Forty-Eight Reviews We Live in Public

“Maybe it was the money, maybe it was the attention… but things started going odd with Josh Harris… Ondi Timoner’s documentary focuses on a man through whom we can see the profound socio-cultural transformation wrought by technology in the last several decades.”

The Globe and Mail
Vancouver Int’l FIlm Festival 2009 Reviews

“[Josh Harris'] personal social skills are negligible, but his vision of society has been spot on.”

Chicago Sun-Times: Review by Roger Ebert

“This is a remarkable film about a strange and prophetic man. [FOUR STARS]”

Chicago Reader

“[Timoner] uses her access to create a frightening portrait of a man whose technological genius fails to compensate for his gaping emotional deficits… CRITIC’S CHOICE”

Chicago Tribune

“Here’s a cautionary tale for the virtual campfire… Timoner’s film offers a ton of surface flash and a hard-driving editing rhythm… provocative.”

Canada.com

“…a provocative and compelling examination of dot-com millionaire Harris and his cutting-edge art projects that attempted to plumb the profound differences between our understanding of private and public space.”

The Review List

“Provocative doc about ‘the greatest Internet pioneer you’ve never heard of’… Ondi Timoner has followed him for 15 years, in good times and bad, and returned with a portrait of a genius/eccentric/screwball who left it all to grow apples. For Harris, the brave new world is behind him. Four stars.”

Stop Smiling

“Documentarian Ondi Timoner stormed Sundance in 2004 with Dig!, her chronicle of rockers The Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre. It won her the Grand Jury Prize — a feat she repeated in 2009 with We Live in Public, her take on privacy in the Internet age, as told through the lens of Web entrepreneur and artist Josh Harris.”

The Times (UK)

“The documentary maker Ondi Timoner specialises in portraits of charismatic, dynamic and dangerously deluded characters…”

EFilmCritic
VIFF ’09 Interview with Ondi Timoner

“Timoner: Since our premiere at Sundance this year, we have had such a passionate response to the film; spawning debates that last for hours. People write and say they cant sleep or have been up for days. I say the film could be billed as a horror movie…”

Three Cheers for Darkened Years! Film Articles by Witney Seibold

“We Live in Public” is fascinating, raw, amusing, and… fascinating to look at.”

prePoSTeRoUS

After the film ended, Director Ondi Timoner addressed the audience and asked the following question, “are we losing our individuality and creativity through the internet?”… Don’t worry, I’m not going to drop off the grid or anything, but thanks to the thoughts provoked by this movie, I am going to try to do more things that none of you will see.

MovieSet Dailies

“Josh Harris’ path through the 90’s — from .com millionaire to web-casting visionary to financial refugee, hiding in Ethiopia from US creditors — is painted across Ondi Timoner’s film with great candor and remarkable fairness for Harris, who left a wake of alienated and estranged relationships when he left the map at the end of his fall…. Provocative.”

Gen X Reflects

“Mind-boggling… Run to this movie!”

Electric Sheep

“Ondi Timoner’s excellent documentary We Live in Public offers a fascinating insight into the way that living virtually through technology can affect our physical lives and our personal identities.”


Daily Freep

“Harris was a myopic visionary, a man who saw the future more vividly than his own life.”

Curtis Andersen Super Blog!

“Following [Josh Harris'] life and those who were affected by it and his projects, is shockingly self affronting and made both Rene and I re-examine just why we interacted with social media the way we do.”


And these two recent reviews made our last press round-up but deserve another shout-out!

Vancouver Sun
VIFF Reviews include the stunning documentary, We Live In Public

“(Critic’s Pick) Watching the social network short-circuit and the entire fabric of civility shred before your eyes can be very compelling, and Timoner doesn’t miss a syncopated beat in this detailed study of public personality, and the self denied… Timoner captures the blurry line between who we really are, and what we pretend to be.”


Wired
Smart We Live in Public Probes Web Genius’ Hubris

“Disturbing… [Timoner] captures the de-evolution of optimistic arty types into semi-deranged test subjects… Imminently watchable.”

Josh Harris and Jason Calcanis, Rabble Rousers…

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

The roommates ducked down to Anaheim for a baseball game and ended up getting snapped by the New York Daily News.   Via Gawker…
Picture 2
http://gawker.com/5386797/jason-calacanis-manages-to-annoy-angels-stadium-security-guards

Ha!

WE LIVE IN PUBLIC Heads to the London Film Festival!

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

We are excited to head to England for the unmemorably-titled but amazing fest — The Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival.  WLIP has four screenings:

Friday October 23  6:15pm   Vue Screen 7
Friday October 23  6:30pm   Vue Screen 6
Sunday October 25  1:30pm  Vue Screen 6
Monday October 26  3:30pm  Vue Screen 5

Find out more about the festival and get your tickets HERE!

London has been proffering up a warm welcome in advance of our arrival.  Check out our feature in The Times.

“The documentary maker Ondi Timoner specialises in portraits of charismatic, dynamic and dangerously deluded characters…”
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article6877690.ece

Tell your mates on the other side of the pond to put down their Pimm’s cups and come support our doc!

I Think We Have Finally Recovered From the Chicago Afterparty…

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

What an event!  Chicago THREW DOWN on behalf of the theatrical premiere of WE LIVE IN PUBLIC this weekend.  Opening night was great at the gorgeous indie film mecca, the Music Box Theater.  We had a packed house, an excellent Q+A that was webcast live thanks to our friends at i^3 Hypermedia, and then we all headed over to the AAA Building for the fete.

One of our executive producers, Sean McKeough, is a Chi-town man, and he spearheaded this “we live in public experience” afterparty for friends of the films and opening night audience members.  Not only did we have fire dancers, free booze, a photobooth and acrobats, we had pods that were rigged up with cameras and screens, and each pod provided a live feed to the others.  Check out some pod pics….

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DSC02825

DSC02827

We will be uploading new photo albums shortly, including more pics from the Chicago madness!

Thanks again to Roger Ebert for giving us FOUR OUT OF FOUR STARS!  Check out his review HERE.

Want to know more about the pods from the original We Live In Public experiment?  Click HERE.

Chicagoans, GET THEE TO THE MUSIC BOX while you can still catch us.  Not a Chicagoan?  Tell your Windy friends…

Four Stars from Roger Ebert and More Amazing Press Out Of Chicago!

Friday, October 16th, 2009

Tonight we open at the Music Box theater in the Windy City and we are getting raves from all the major Chicago rags.  BUY TICKETS HERE — Check it out!

Chicago Sun-Times
“This is a remarkable film about a strange and prophetic man.”
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091014/REVIEWS/910149994

Chicago Tribune
“Here’s a cautionary tale for the virtual campfire… genuinely terrifying.”
http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/talking_pictures/2009/10/we-live-in-public-3-stars.html

Chicago Reader
“[Timoner] uses her access to create a frightening portrait of a man whose technological genius fails to compensate for his gaping emotional deficits… CRITIC’S CHOICE”
http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/MovieTimes?oid=1178675

Come to the 7:30pm screening at the Music Box tonight to see Ondi and Josh live for a Q+A, or catch it WEBCAST at 9pm central time on our site, weliveinpublicthemovie.com.  We are having a party at the AAA Building in Wicker Park after the Q+A — if you come to the Music Box today, keep your ticket stub for entry into festivities.  Buy tickets for the Music Box event tonight or click HERE for more info about our theatrical run in Chicago!

TONIGHT – i^3 hosts special Chicago screening of WE LIVE IN PUBLIC

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

As we gear up for our Chicago theatrical opening tomorrow night at the Music Box, we are psyched to stop by i-cubed headquarters for a special preview screening of WLIP, open to the public.  Ondi and Josh will be there for a Q+A, which will also be webcast ’round the world.  Tune into weliveinpublicthemovie.com or http://i3hypermedia.com/ at 9pm central time (7pm west coast / 10pm east coast) to catch it!

Date: Thursday Oct. 15th
Location: 11 W. Illinois, 4th Floor (top buzzer)
Doors: 7pm
Show: 7:30pm
Q+A: 9pm
GET TICKETS HERE
For info about our THEATRICAL RUN at the MUSIC BOX beginning Friday October 16th, CLICK HERE

WLIP Hits Chi-Town — Special screening + Theatrical Launch!

Monday, October 12th, 2009

We are so excited to be opening in CHICAGO at the incredible Music Box theater.  Our run begins Friday October 16th and director Ondi Timoner and star Josh Harris will be on-hand for a post-screening Q+A after the 7:30pm show on opening night.  Tickets went on sale today and believe it or not, we are well on our way to being sold out for opening night, so don’t dilly dally.  We will be at the Music Box all week.  If you want to purchase tickets in advance, you have to call the theater.  We recommend it!
Music Box Theatre |  3733 N. Southport Ave.  |  Chicago, IL 60613  | Showtimes: 773-871-6604   Office: 773-871-6607

If you can’t be at the opening night talk with Ondi and Josh in the flesh,  Our friends at i3 Media are sponsoring a live webcast of the discussion!  Check out weliveinpublicthemovie.com at around 9pm CST (7pm PST) on Friday October 16th and then stick around to see more action as the webcam crew heads off to our Chicago premiere *party*.

A ticket stub gains you entry into the afterparty, which is at the AAA building in Wicker Park.  We are rocking it out with free drinks from our friends at 42 Below Vodka, a video-enabled photobooth and an all-around raging time that promises to be a full-on “We Live in Public Experience”.

In addition to the Music Box run, the i3 Media gang is hosting a special preview screening on October 15th, open to the public.  Ondi and Josh will be there in person for a webcasted post-screening Q+A, so if you can’t be there to catch it live, you don’t have to miss out on the fun.  The event is located at:
11 W. Illinois, 4th Floor (top buzzer)

Thursday, October 15th
doors at 7:00
show is at 7:30
webcasted Q&A at 9:00 CST  — tune into weliveinpublicthemovie.com

BUY TICKETS HERE

We are having a great run in Austin and San Francisco.  Check out some of the love we’ve gotten!

Austin Chronicle “Ondi Timoner, who also directed the now-classic rocker doc DIG!, makes a bold and trenchant argument, via Harris’ pseudomorphically perverse life, that we are all now “slaves to little boxes,” and it’s true, Tweetpeeps, isn’t it? [FOUR STARS]”

San Francisco Bay Guardian “Fascinatingly addictive, this follow up to Timoner’s cult classic Dig! (which won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize in 2004) follows the bi-polar exploits of Internet pioneer Josh Harris. This man predicted every single step of the internet and the jaw dropping footage of his “experiments” are here to prove it. In 1999 he created a quasi-cult community in the basement of New York, in which people were given pods to sleep in, free food, drugs, and all night raves while every move was being recorded and shared. Even now, the uncompromising footage has the power to warp the viewer into his Orwellian vision of the future. But wait — that’s not all: Harris then goes on to rig 32 motion-sensor cameras in his house, creating the first website to stream his and girlfriend’s every life moment. I can’t express enough how awesome this film is, or how horrifyingly revealing of where our own society has headed.”

Run and get your tickets, Chicago, don’t walk!  See you there!

Don’t Mess With WE LIVE IN PUBLIC – New Press Round-Up!

Friday, October 9th, 2009

Wow, what a week for great reviews!  As we continue our theatrical run at the Roxie in San Francisco, open at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Austin, TX and play at the Vancouver International Film Festival, we continue to feel the love from journalists and bloggers.  Check it out!

Wired Magazine
Review: Smart We Live in Public Probes Web Genius’ Hubris

“Timoner… deftly treads a tightrope between admiration and skepticism for her central character… a whale of a good story.”

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Blog

“There’s no question that this is one of the best documentaries of the year…”

Vancouver Sun: Review

“(Critic’s pick) We Live in Public:  Ondi Timoner has a way of making non-fiction films feel entirely personal… In her award-winning follow up to Dig!, she takes us deep into the dark heart of dot-com millionaire and disgraced internet pioneer Josh Harris. Harris was the first person who saw humanity move toward virtual encounters, and set up a performance piece involving a community of subterranean pods. Watching the social network short-circuit and the entire fabric of civility shred before your eyes can be very compelling, and Timoner doesn’t miss a syncopated beat in this detailed study of public personality, and the self denied. Harris may remain a complete enigma by the final frames, but Timoner captures the blurry line between who we really are, and what we pretend to be.”

The Vancouver Sun
VIFF: Sex, drugs and screaming matches for all the world to see in We Live in Public documentary

“…a provocative and compelling examination of dot-com millionaire Harris and his cutting-edge art projects that attempted to plumb the profound differences between our understanding of private and public space…Through it all, Timoner’s camera bears witness to each subtle shift in Harris’s persona as he attempts to bargain with his own public image, and sell the notion that he’s just so far ahead of his time, he’s doomed to be ridiculed in the puny minds of his peers.”

Spieler
Ondi Timoner’s We Live In Public At The BFI

“Award-winning director, Ondi Timoner (DIG!), documented his 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.”

ZHIV – a blog about nothing
Two Movies for Bloggers: Julie/Julia and We Live in Public

“The film tells a truly amazing story and it’s quite disturbing…  Go see We Live In Public if you want a better idea of what’s really going on and where this whole thing might be headed.”

Fan The Fire Magazine Blog
London Film Festival: Film Review: We Live in Public

“There are three things that may never cease to fascinate me: the early 90s (because it was so recent, and is considered by the generation who shape our conscious to be irrelevant in comparison to their “special” generation of the 60s, and yet it was so vibrant and culturally rich); the internet (because nobody is capable of predicting where it will go… it is like a wild frontier, but every time someone thinks they have discovered California a whole new plain appears before them); and finally men (and I use that word to denote a member of my species, not necessarily my gender) who seem to have it all, but then manage to throw it all away… If you feel like you are interested in any or all of the above, then you really need to see Ondi Timoner’s ‘We Live In Public’.”

VIFF.org

“Timoner’s investigation into Harris’ past exploits couldn’t be more timely. The dotcom mogul’s sometimes sadistic “social experiments” evidence that he was well ahead of the curve in recognizing and exploiting the fact that a) we love to watch and b) we love to be watched… Fascinating.”

All These Wonderful Things by AJ Schnack

“…one has to admire Timoner’s innovative thinking toward the promotion of her film.”

Movie City News — Video Interview w/Ondi Timoner