back

Mr. Jones

Competition 2019
© Robert Palka / Film Produkcja
In March 1933, Welsh journalist Gareth Jones takes a train from Moscow to Kharkov in the Ukraine. He disembarks at a small station and sets off on foot on a journey through the country where he experiences at first hand the horrors of a famine. Everywhere there are dead people, and everywhere he goes he meets henchmen of the Soviet secret service who are determined to prevent news about the catastrophe from getting out to the general public. Stalin’s forced collectivisation of agriculture has resulted in misery and ruin; the policy is tantamount to mass murder. Supported by Ada Brooks, a New York Times reporter, Jones succeeds in spreading the shocking news in the West, thereby putting his powerful rival, the Pulitzer Prize-winning, pro-Stalin journalist Walter Duranty, firmly in his place.
Shot in Poland, Scotland and in original locations in the Ukraine, Agnieszka Holland’s film recalls the legendary journalist Gareth Jones (1905-1935) who, despite fierce resistance, could not be dissuaded from telling the truth. Jones’s encounter with the young George Orwell is said to have inspired the latter’s dystopian parable ‘Animal Farm’ (1945).
To view this content, you must enable third-party cookies. >
by Agnieszka Holland
with James Norton, Vanessa Kirby, Peter Sarsgaard, Joseph Mawle, Fenella Woolgar, Kenneth Cranham, Celyn Jones, Krzysztof Pieczyński, Michalina Olszańska, Patricia Volny Poland / United Kingdom / Ukraine 2019 English, Ukrainian, Russian, Welsh 141’ Colour World premiere

With

  • James Norton (Gareth Jones)
  • Vanessa Kirby (Ada Brooks)
  • Peter Sarsgaard (Walter Duranty)
  • Joseph Mawle (George Orwell)
  • Fenella Woolgar (Miss Stevenson)
  • Kenneth Cranham (Lloyd George)
  • Celyn Jones (Matthew)
  • Krzysztof Pieczyński (Maxim Litvinow)
  • Michalina Olszańska (Yulia)
  • Patricia Volny (Bonnie)

Crew

Director Agnieszka Holland
Screenplay Andrea Chalupa
Cinematography Tomasz Naumiuk
Editing Michał Czarnecki
Music Antoni Komasa-Łazarkiewicz
Sound Design Wojciech Mielimąka
Sound Marcin Matlak
Production Design Grzegorz Piątkowski
Costumes Aleksandra Staszko
Make-Up Janusz Kaleja
Assistant Director Jan Mensik
Casting Colin Jones
Line Producer Bogna Szewczyk
Production Manager Tomasz Morawski
Producers Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska, Stanisław Dziedzic, Andrea Chalupa
Co-Producers Angus Lamont, Egor Olesov
Executive Producer Leah Temerty-Lord
Co-Production Crab Apple Glasgow
Film UA Kiew

World Sales

WestEnd Films

Produced by

Film Produkcja / in association with NEM Corp

http://filmprodukcja.com http://filmprodukcja.com

Photos

Press Conference

Red Carpet

Berlinale Meets | Interview

Agnieszka Holland

© Jacek Poremba

Born in Warsaw, Poland in 1948, she graduated from the FAMU film school in Prague and began her career assisting Krzysztof Zanussi and Andrzej Wajda. She collaborated with Krzysztof Kieślowski on the screenplay of his Three Colors trilogy. Her film Gorączka screened in Competition at the Berlinale in 1981, the year in which she emigrated to Paris. Since then she has made over 30 films, winning awards including the Golden Globe and a Berlinale Silver Bear, and being nominated for a BAFTA and an Emmy. Her films In Darkness, Europa Europa and Angry Harvest were all nominated for an Academy Award.

Filmography (selection)

1979 Aktorzy prowincjonalni (Provinzschauspieler) 1981 Gorączka (Fieber) · Kobieta samotna (Eine alleinstehende Frau) 1985 Bittere Ernte (Angry Harvest) 1988 To Kill a Priest (Der Priestermord) 1990 Hitlerjunge Salomon (Europa, Europa) · Hitlerjunge Salomon (Europa Europa) 1991 Largo desolato · Largo Desolato 1992 Olivier, Olivier 1993 The Secret Garden (Der geheime Garten) 1995 Total Eclipse 1997 Washington Square 1999 The Third Miracle (Das dritte Wunder) 2002 Julie Walking Home 2006 Copying Beethoven (Klang der Stille) 2009 Janosik. Prawdziwa Historia (Janosik. The Real Story) · Janosik. Prawdziwa historia (Janosik. The Real Story) 2011 In Darkness 2015 House of Cards; TV series, 2 episodes 2017 Pokot (Spoor) 2019 Mr. Jones 2020 Charlatan

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2020