Tim Wolff

Tim Wolff received his education from the California Institute of the Arts Directing for Theatre and Film program, studying closely with legendary director Alexander Mackendrick (The Ladykillers, Sweet Smell of Success) and two-time Oscar winning documentarian Terry Sanders. In 1999, he began the first of four productions at HBO as producer. He produced two segments for the popular HBO documentary show Real Sex with Wigstock: The Movie filmmaker Barry Shils. In 2001, Mr. Wolff traveled to Haiti as producer for HBO for a documentary about the criminal U. S. deportees of Port-au-Prince. The Sons of Tennessee Williams, his first feature documentary, premiered at The Palm Springs International Film Festival in 2011 and then traveled to 30 film festivals worldwide as part of an extended 4 year release by celebrated New York City distributor First Run Features. This included theatrical premieres in NYC and Los Angeles, New York Times and Los Angeles Times feature stories, PBS screenings, a DVD release and finally as a selection on Netflix, Itunes and Amazon Streaming, Hulu, as well as being held in over 250 libraries and translated into 12 languages. In July of 2014, SONS of TW signed with France's Quadra Film Coalition for all international theatrical and broadcast distribution. In June of 2013, SONS of TW was screened in Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Hong Kong in China as a Fulbright funded/US State Department cultural exchange with the director in attendance, beginning with the Asian premiere at the Beijing Queer Film Festival. March of 2014, Mr. Wolff traveled again for the US State Department for screenings in South Korea, where he screened SONS of TW and spoke on the subjects of American LGBT civil rights history and independent filmmaking at Incheon University. In June 2015, Mr. Wolff traveled for the US State Department for Cultural Affairs programming in Honduras and Costa Rica with Fulbright Speaker Funding. He held screenings and lectures at La Parque La Libertad, an multidisciplinary arts college in the foothills above San Jose, The University of Costa Rica and Veritas University. He facilitated a documentation project of LGBT personal histories in Costa Rica and co-produced, with the U. S. Embassy in San Jose, a short documentary on the status of LGBT equality and freedom in Costa Rica. The project, now called SOMOS, will continue to record and archive the lives of LGBT Costa Ricans for the future uses of research, activism, art and filmmaking. In February of 2016, Mr. Wolff traveled as a U. S. State Department Arts Envoy and Human Rights Ambassador for 2 weeks of Sons of TW screenings and LGBT history documentation in Myanmar, in Yangon and Mandalay, with Burmese government officials and LGBT CSOs in attendance. He spoke on the realities of socially conscious documentary at The Human Dignity Film Institute outside of Yangon. In Mandalay, in conjunction with the former consulate Jefferson Center and LGBT organization C.A.N., he recorded 20 hours of interview with LGBT citizens from around the region, for the purposes of creating an archive of LGBT culture in Myanmar which will be held at the U. S. Embassy run Jefferson and American Centers. In March 2016, Mr. Wolff traveled to Vietnam, for the U. S. Embassy, Hanoi. While in Hanoi, he produced the short documentary "A Family in Vietnam" from an interview with U. S. Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius, his husband Clayton Bond and their two adopted children. The resulting documentary was reached 100,000 views in the first ten days of being posted on the Embassy's website and the Ambassador's Facebook page. Also in Hanoi, Mr. Wolff screened Sons of TW and lectured on the process of independent filmmaking at The Hanoi Cinematheque, The Hanoi Academy of Cinema and Theatre, The Centre for Assistance and Development of Movie Talents (TPD)and first-ever screenings of LGBT documentary in Than Hoa province with Communist Party approval. In Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Wolff, again with U. S. State Department funding and support, screened and conducted Masters Class programs at Hoa Sen University, The Saigon American Center, The Southern Institute of Social Sciences and Saigon International Film School. In October, 2017, Mr. Wolff traveled to Papua/New Guinea at the invitation of the U. S. Embassy in Port Moresby. There he documented the transgender communities in the villages of Hanuabada, Goroka and Hula for the purposes of a short documentary. He conducted workshops at University of Papua New Guinea, The American Center in Port Moresby and at the Center for Social and Creative Media, University of Papua/New Guinea, Goroka. The SONS of TW screened at the Human Rights Film Festival of Papua New Guinea 2017. In October of 2018, Mr. Wolff returned to Papua New Guinea to screen I'm Moshanty. Do You Love Me?, a documentary about the transgender music superstar and Papua New Guinea national hero Moses Moshanty Tau. The movie showed at the Human Rights Film Festival of 2018 and 2019, in Goroka, Madang and Port Moresby, PNG. In June of 2019, Mr. Wolff traveled to Mumbai, as an Arts Envoy, at the invitation of U. S. Consulate, Mumbai, to screen I'm Moshanty. Do You Love Me? at the 10th anniversary edition of the Kashish Mumbai Queer International Film Festival, the oldest LGBTQ film festival in South Asia. While in Mumbai, he gave workshops on The Pitch of a Movie at the American Center at the U. S. Consulate in Mumbai. He then traveled to Ahmedabad to conduct a 2 day workshop on Documenting LGBTQ Culture and Creating a Visibility for LGBTQ Persons Through Documentary with students at Ahmedabad University in a program organized by the U. S. Consulate in Ahmedabad. In February, 2020, Mr. Wolff traveled to Turkey at the invitation of U. S. Mission Turkey, to screen the Moshanty documentary at the Pembe Hayat Kuir International Film Festival in Ankara and Istanbul. While there he again conducted workshops on independent filmmaking at the Istanbul Experimental Film Festival, The Istanbul Cinema Network and MEF University in Istanbul. In Ankara, Mr. Wolff screened I'm Moshanty. Do You Love Me? and conducted workshops for 2 consecutive evenings at KA Atolye, a filmmakers and photographers arts collective. His next projects include "Nostalgia: the History of a Persistent Folk Tradition and the Causes of PTSD in Combat Veterans". This is a feature documentary that focuses on two subjects, the history and contemporary use of Lawn Jockeys and the uncensored descriptions of specific combat experiences during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Currently in development is the magical-realist musical comedy narrative feature "The Ballad of Yes and No". This is the story of Rosemary Winters, a legendary Jazz vocalist in the late 1960s, who splits into her good and evil selves during the last stages of a lifelong self-destruction, fleeing from her Doppelganger on a hallucinogenic journey toward her own self-realization.