Canadian Premiere
Prolific documentary filmmaker Ondi Timoner has shared her work with VIFF audiences several times in the past, but she’s never made a more personal film than this one. In January 2021, her father Eli told his family it was time. He was ready to die. Either immediately, or as soon as the law allowed. Last Flight Home is a vérité record of his last few weeks on earth.
While Timoner’s film is a valuable account of the process of medically-assisted death—at least as it plays out in California—the film has much more to offer than that. A high flyer, Eli founded Air Florida in the 1970s. It became the fastest growing airline in the world. Then in 1982—in his 50s—he suffered a stroke and was paralyzed for the last 40 years of his life. This deeply moving and cathartic film is a testament to different measures of success and fulfillment. As the extended family say their goodbyes, we see how the love Eli bestowed validates a life well-spent.
Media Partner
USA
2022
English
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
The Richest Woman in the World
Isabelle Huppert plays cosmetics CEO Marianne in this teasingly ambivalent satire inspired by the Bettancourt Affair, when L'Oreal heir Francoise Bettancourt scandalized France by frittering away her fortune on a notorious celebrity photographer.
Departures
Two lads meet at an airport gate and begin monthly trips to Amsterdam together. Their chemistry is off the charts, but it's Jake who's calls the shots while Benji is the one who's emotionally invested. Comparisons to Pillion and Trainspotting are on mark.
The Python Hunt
Strange but true: the Florida Everglades are overrun with unwanted visitors. Not tourists, but invasive Burmese pythons decimating the local critters. The state's solution: an annual contest: $10 000 to whomever bags the most snakes in ten days.
Mistura
This foodie film from Peru tells the story of a newly single socialite reinventing herself — and the local cuisine — after her husband has left her for a younger woman. Along the way, she finds support from unexpected places...
Credits
Producer
Ondi Timoner, David Turner
Screenwriter
Ondi Timoner
Cinematography
Ondi Timoner
Editor
Ondi Timoner
Original Music
Morgan Doctor
Director
Ondi Timoner
Ondi Timoner is an internationally acclaimed filmmaker whose work focuses on impossible visionaries. She won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance for Dig! (2004), about the collision of art and commerce, and for We Live In Public (2009), about the loss of privacy online. Her other work includes Join Us (2007), about mind control; Cool It (2010), about climate change; and Coming Clean (2020), about the opioid crisis. She is a member of the Directors Guild of America, Producers Guild of America, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Filmography: We Live in Public (2009); Cool It (2010); Mapplethorpe (2018); Coming Clean (2020)