We Live in Public

Calling all voyeurs and exhibitionists! Internet pioneer Josh Harris has spent his life implementing his unique vision of the future, where technology and media dictate human social interaction and define our personal identity. At the turn of the millenium, Harris launched an art experiment called Quiet: We Live in Public. He created an artificial society in an underground bunker in the heart of New York City. More than 100 artists moved in and lived in pods under 24-hour surveillance in what was essentially a human terrarium. They defecated, had sex, shared a transparent communal shower—all on camera. On January 1, 2000, after 30 days, the project was busted by FEMA as a “millennial cult.” Undeterred, Harris struck again, this time as his own subject. Rigging his loft with 32 motion-controlled cameras, he convinced his girlfriend to allow him to record streaming video of every moment of their lives from the toilet to the bedroom. The project backfired, his relationship imploded, and Harris went broke. Mentally unhinged, he fled to an apple farm in upstate New York. Sundance award winner Ondi Timoner (#_5_ won the Grand Jury Prize in 2004) chronicled Harris for a decade, culling through thousands of hours of Harris’s own footage and coupling it with rousing vérité of her own. The result is a fascinating, sexy, yet cautionary, tale where we all become Big Brother.

Recipient of The Grand Jury Prize: U.S. Documentary.

CAST

Ondi Timoner - Ondi Timoner founded Interloper Films in 1994, promising to give the world an intimate look at her subjects. Whether it's life inside a women's prison in The Nature of the Beast (1995), the tension between art and commerce in DIG! (2004 Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner), the desperation of a cult in Join Us (2007), or a chilling view of the Internet in We Live in Public (2008), Interloper's award-winning documentaries feature incredible access and emotional depth. Timoner also enjoys creating original series for television and has just completed two shorts for CNN Heroes.

Screenings:

Mon. Jan 19 6:00 p.m. - WELIV19TE Temple Theatre, Park City
Tue. Jan 20 11:30 a.m. - WELIV203D Holiday Village Cinema III, Park City
Tue. Jan 20 7:30 p.m. - WELIV20BE Broadway Centre Cinemas IV, SLC
Thu. Jan 22 6:00 p.m. - WELIV22SE Screening Room, Sundance Resort
Fri. Jan 23 9:00 a.m. - WELIV23TM Temple Theatre, Park City
Sat. Jan 24 2:30 p.m. - WELIV243A Holiday Village Cinema III, Park City