The Egotist Interviews: Director Ondi Timoner of "We Live In Public"

Interviewed with help from Aubrey Cornelius

How did you get such unrestrained access to Josh Harris?

I was called by Josh Harris and asked if I wanted to document “cultural history.” This is sometime in mid-1999. He said, “It’s the millennium. Someone has to do something and no one is doing anything.” He didn’t like the way he looked on film, so he stole all the masters, and that was the end of the project. I walked away and that was going to be that. When I won Sundance in 2004 for “Dig,” I got an email saying, “I’d like to finish the film.” I said “no” and had no interest in working with someone who took my masters. He made a proposal to me – he’d give me all the masters back, full creative control, and no end date for filming. It wasn’t until 2007 that I saw Facebook status updates and thought “we’re all living in a bunker” and wanted to complete the film. That was his hope to get back on the scene, so he gave me all the access I needed. By the end, I had creative control and owned the film myself. I was able to go make the film I needed to be made.

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WLIP has garnered so much critical acclaim. To what do you attribute such a strong response?

It’s an extremely relevant film – a social issue film for our time unlike any film that’s out there in terms of how it applies to all of us. Even if you look at a film about water shortage or climate change, it doesn’t really affect you on a personal level as much as the Internet. The film also has a rocking soundtrack and amazing footage culled from 5,000 hours of tape. It’s an extremely entertaining film as well. A unique beast. One of those weird organisms that’s a miracle to make. I edited the film in 8 months and felt like it really needed to premiere at Sundance in January 2009. We Live in Public is a harbinger of things to come for all of us as the virtual world takes over our lives. It has implications for all of us: how we behave and how our friends behave and what the ramifications of all that are.

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What do you want people to take away from the film?

I want people to be conscious of their lives online and the way they behave. There’s a good opportunity with this film to reflect afterward. Josh is a double cautionary tale – he was raised on technology and a TV set, which informed his idea of family. The film is a good cautionary tale for adults and parents to realize they shouldn’t park their kids in front of a computer or TV set. As obvious as that is, it’s so easy and compelling to babysit your child that way. Josh made his life way too public. He screwed up the only relationship of his life on camera. The Internet is not an intimate media. It’s not private. It’s not any place for love. It’s great for promoting a film and a book and efficient communication, but you’re connecting with 50% less depth. This film makes you aware of that. How much you take out your iPhone or Blackberry and look down instead of looking up at the world around you.

The thing I love about this film is that we’re looking 10 years back at the bunker, and it’s really not that long ago, which begs the question: where are we going 5, 10 years from now? Everything changes so fast. It’s important that everyone is aware because we may live in these boxes. We’re going to lose our individuality and freedom. The movie shows we’ll gladly trade that for the recognition we feel we need – it wakes people up a little bit. The Internet is the most powerful and wonderful invention of our lifetime, but it has a dark side and this film happens to capture that dark side.

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What compels people to share such intimate details of their personal lives?

The feedback. Wanting to leave a lasting mark. We want our lives to matter and we want to feel connected and not alone. The Internet give us this 24/7 opportunity not to feel alone. The more we connect online, the less alone we feel.

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What is the next boundary to be crossed in social media?

Self surveillance – the ability to record everything in real time. We’re going to film ourselves and that’s going to become programming. This is Josh’s prediction, and I think he’s right again. What’s scary is that really we live in public wherever we are – if you’re not shooting it, someone else is. You’re out there, whether you like it or not.

Will we reach our tolerance of “living in public” before it turns to self destruction?
I don’t think we can. Some people will be over it, but we’re too hooked into the web – you can’t pull out of it. You can choose to pull back, but it’s not going to be possible to disconnect. Completely. I’ve joked at Q&As that if everyone organizes to get off the grid, they’ll do it on Twitter.

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What are you working on next?

I’m working on a film about climate change called “Cool It” about certain solutions being overlooked because of the hysteria. I hope to finish it in the coming year. I’m also developing a few features, like the story of Robert Mapplethorpe.

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The film We Live In Public screens at the Starz FilmCenter in Denver from December 3-10, with special screenings this Thursday and Friday night. Get your tickets before they’re gone.