Awards Daily talks to director Ondi Timoner about her very personal documentary Last Flight Home, which tells the story of her father’s final two weeks of life.
Director Ondi Timoner never intended for the footage of her father in the final weeks of his life to be turned into the documentary Last Flight Home, but she realized there was something there as she put together his memorial video.
“I knew I needed to do something to support choice at the end of life,” says Timoner. “Just as important as abortion is, this is vitally important. There are millions of terminally ill people, and they can’t fight for this right themselves. Once a family is in this position is pretty much the time they start thinking about it. It’s a really underserved population, and I didn’t realize that until I was in it.”
The film follows her father’s choice to end his life while showing how the family grapples with it. Not only has the film been cathartic for her as a daughter and director, but it’s also provided closure for audiences outside of her family.
“It’s been truly remarkable. I’ve never witnessed anything like it. People are just broken open in the most beautiful way and in a way that they’re happy about. They say they’ve healed from really bad deaths. I’ve got hundreds of people saying to me that they feel better after watching the film.”
I had a great conversation with Timoner about legal implications of working on this film as well as how it has impacted her future work. Watch the video below!
Last Flight Home is available to stream on Paramount+ and Amazon.
