International shooting team of the project has started filming in Ukraine
Today, the international release of the first official poster to Gareth Jones historical thriller took place. The film is to be directed by Agnieszka Holland and co-produced by Poland (Film Produkcja), Ukraine (FILM.UA Group, Kinorob), and the UK (Crab Apple Film). On March 3, shooting of the Ukrainian block started in Kyiv, and it would last until March 21.
The international project team, consisting of director Agnieszka Holland at its head, screenwriter and producer Andrea Chalupa, and lead actor James Norton (UK), is already in Ukraine and has started the shooting process. Vanessa Kirby who is to play the female lead, journalist Ada Brooks, will join her colleagues on March 10.
From the Ukrainian side, the actors are Yakiv Tkachenko (Pryputni), Oleg Drach (Battle for Sevastopol, A Prayer for Hetman Mazepa), Volodymyr Fedoruk, Anna Shaydyuk, Anastasia Chala, and Alina Kovalska. They will be accompanied at the set by their Polish and British counterparts.
The shooting will take place in Kyiv and Kyiv region where the scenes of the protagonist’s travel over Soviet Ukraine will be filmed; part of the scenes set in Moscow will be filmed in Kharkiv. Later, work on the film will be resumed in Poland and Scotland.
The premiere of Gareth Jones historical thriller created with the support of Ukrainian State Film Agency is planned for 2019.
Gareth Jones, a historical thriller based on real events, is a story of a well-known British investigative journalist Gareth Jones who in spite of deadly danger went to Soviet Ukraine to uncover the whole truth about the tragedy of Ukrainian people and to tell it to the global community. It was his research of the famine, relentless censorship and international conspiracy that inspired George Orwell to write his allegoric novel Animal Farm.
Follow the news of the project at its official Facebook page.
Synopsis: In 1933, Welsh reporter Gareth Jones is on the search for his next big story. The latest news brings him to Moscow where he meets Ada Brooks, a journalist. Ada opens his eyes to the “Soviet utopia” which has nothing to do with the reality. So Gareth, in spite of death threats, starts his investigation. Step by step, hiding from the USSR special services, he uncovers the truth about the tragedy of Ukrainian nation: the Famine, cruel censorship, plots, and mass reprisals. After some time, his discoveries will become the basis for Animal Farm by George Orwell.
Director: Agnieszka Holland
Producers: Klaudia Smieja, Stanislaw Dziedzic, Egor Olesov, Angus Lamont, Andrea Chalupa
Cinematographer: Tomasz Naumiuk
Screenwriter: Andrea Chalupa
Сast: James Norton, Vanessa Kirby, Peter Sarsgaard, Yakiv Tkachenko, Oleg Drach, Volodymyr Fedoruk, Anna Shaydyuk, Anastasia Chala, Alina Kovalska, and others
Costume designer: Oleksandra Stazko
Artistic director: Grzegorz Piontkowski
Composer: Antoni Komasa-Łazarkiewicz
Ukrainian premiere: 2019
Genre: historical thriller, drama
Produced by: Film Produkcja, Kinorob, Crab Apple Film, FILM.UA Group
with the support of Ukrainian State Film Agency and Polish Cinematography Institute
Timing: 110 mins
