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I gave birth to my son Joaquim “Juki” just two days before exporting DIG! and submitting it to Sundance. So I found myself with an 11 week-old infant in my arms, breastfeeding between Q&As and even went home to do so after winning the Grand Jury Prize (when normally I would have been out til dawn celebrating) - so he kept my feet firmly on the ground, but also, made everything so much more entertaining.
Over the next two years, I brought Juki with me to 17 countries and all over the states, as the film exploded in popularity, and I had an absolute blast witnessing this wild and beautiful world through the ever-curious and amazed eyes of a baby. I loved documenting Juki on our travels, dancing in his stroller in Paris, kicking back listening to classical street musicians in Vienna.
Traveling with my son made the experience so much richer and also kept my feet on the ground. When we won Sundance again five years later with WE LIVE IN PUBLIC, I was so excited to take my him to Australia and New Zealand, Oaxaca and later Bhutan - so many more fascinating places with the films, and the resulting 21 year-old has a wisdom and confidence which I think must be at lest in part a result of this special upbringing.
Jan 16, 2025
Related Recs
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and then hearing their reviews after.
6d ago
Big Moments:
* Birthing my daughter. Was it intense? Yes. But it’s also insane feeling a baby exit your body… my husband and I sang “I like you as you are” to her while the midwife team was doing all their checks and what not. It felt very perfect and so different from my son’s birth.
* Floating in the Nantucket Sound and feeling at peace, a marked difference from years prior when floating would send me into brief fight or flight. Also, just being able to swim in the ocean as much as I wanted for a few days.
* My son starting preschool and LOVING it. We did a lot of preparation but I was still worried sending him off into the world without me. It’s been awesome to see how much he’s grown in a positive way.
I have had so many small moments over the past year that felt idyllic, and I’ve made a mental note to hold onto them. Small moments with my husband, kids, other family, friends. My day to day isn’t as expansive as it was in the past, but it’s deepened. I love this stage of life. It’s full of so much love.
Dec 26, 2024
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I have no desire to have children but how great is it to share in a parent-to-be's excitement? And to celebrate their child's milestones with them?
Dec 18, 2024
Top Recs from @ondi-timoner
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If you have a dog, walk them! If not, walk anyway! I have found my whole life that walking is the best way to feed my mind, body, and soul simultaneously… and to see and discover any new city. I travel a lot with my films, and sometimes I clock in 13 miles in a day… On any day at home, it’s a sacred time, as the sun sets and we walk our dogs. But if I can take care of phone calls, listen to podcasts, do Zooms and catch up with my partner and friends while moving my feet down the street, waving at neighbors and taking in the natural beauty that is waiting to be discovered around every corner - I will choose that any day. Wandering around a city is also our favorite way to experience any city in the world.
Jan 16, 2025
This is a book by Austrian psychologist, Viktor Frankl, about his observations of the human condition, recorded while surviving the Holocaust. He identified work, love and suffering as the three ways we can find meaning in life - while suffering is how we can reach our highest potential, because it tests us the most. He observed how vital hope was for survival, and how some people were profoundly graceful and generous in their suffering… like those who gave away their meager piece of bread, or even how a starving woman made the last days on this earth count by appreciating a single track against a blue sky she was able to see through a slit in the wood… It is really the best guide to living I have found.
A few years after reading it, I was approached to direct a documentary about the writers of Netflix’s Oscar-winning “All Quiet on the Western Front” as they adapt Man’s Search for Meaning into a screenplay. They are a power couple facing the biggest challenge of a lifetime: After 22 years of marriage and partnership, sports psychologist Simon Marshall, and 5X World Champion Triathlete, Lesley Paterson, get their dream job to adapt their favorite book Man’s Search for Meaning, but the same day they get the job, Simon receives a call from his doctor telling him that he has Stage 3 Pancreatic Cancer. The film we’ve been shooting follows their journey across the world, retracing Frankl’s life journey while pursuing cures for this deadly form of cancer. Our documentary is shaping up to be a modern Man’s Search of Meaning, because it is all about turning something devastating into a triumph by making it meaningful - and it has changed my life forever to take on the challenge of telling this essential story.
Jan 16, 2025
Staying at the Roxy in NY (formerly the Tribeca Grand) is akin to being on an elegant cruise in Manhattan. It’s my home away from home in the city. Everything is there: from live jazz in the massive atrium lobby with the glass elevator zipping up and down and the divine food and drinks (I recommend the lobster roll and a mescal cocktail) in recessed leather booths shaped like teacups, to the gorgeous red velvet theater below - which offers the best films on screen in Manhattan - curated by the brilliant Illyse Singer. After attending a killer film and fascinating Q&A, retreat to the Django, the speakeasy next door, which stays open til 4AM and is often where the hottest underground music acts play… What else could you ask for?
Jan 16, 2025