“Mapplethorpe, The Director's Cut”

Filmmaker Ondi Timoner talks with Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ about the recently released “Mapplethorpe, The Director's Cut” featuring an all-new soundtrack, previously unseen footage and also addresses Robert Mapplethorpe’s important relationship with Patti Smith and his subsequent pivotal romance with powerhouse art collector Sam Wagstaff. The film stars Matt Smith in the title role, best known as Prince Philip in the Netflix series “The Crown.” The stellar cast includes Marianne Rendón as Patti Smith and John Benjamin Hickey as Sam Wagstaff. LGBTQ icon and photographer Robert Mapplethorpe was one of the most important and controversial artists of the 20th Century living his life boldly and authentically until his untimely death 1989 at age of 42 due to complications from HIV/AIDS. Mapplethorpe’s most controversial works documented and examined the gay male BDSM subculture of New York City in the late 1960s and early 1970s. His historic and provocative 1989 exhibition entitled “Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Moment” generated controversy and even sparked a Congressional debate when Senator Jesse Helms introduced legislation that attempted to stop the National Endowment for the Arts from funding artwork he considered “obscene.” Though Helms’ extreme measures did not pass, a compromise was reached in Congress placing restrictions on NEA funding procedures that’s still in effect today. “Mapplethorpe, The Director’s Cut” also includes restored scenes depicting Mapplethorpe’s childhood love of photography, his embattled relationship with his father and his lingering ambivalent connection to the Catholic faith. We talked to Ondi about her inspiration for creating “Mapplethorpe, The Director's Cut” and her spin on our LGBTQ issues. 

Ondi Timoner is one of the most outstanding talents in non-fiction filmmaking. She often takes on the stories of visionaries fighting against all odds with a gripping and unique mixed-media, narrative style. Ondi wrote, directed, produced and edited “Mapplethorpe” that won an Audience Award at the Tribeca Film Festival and was released theatrically by Samuel Goldwyn in 2018. “Mapplethorpe, The Director’s Cut” is now available on Hulu, Amazon and various digital platforms. Currently she’s putting the finishing touches on a new screenplay “A Stroke of Genius” about the life and career of her late father Eli Timoner who in 1971 founded Air Florida an airline that saw remarkable rapid growth both at the time of its inception and afterwards before suffering a stroke and living the next forty years as a hemiplegic. Timoner is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the DGA, the PGA, the International Documentary Association, Film Fatales and Women in Film.

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