Our main character, the young journalist Gareth Jones, becomes famous after publishing an article about his ride on an airplane with the new Chancellor of Germany - Adolf Hitler. Jones uses his political position in the British government as a foreign affairs advisor to David Lloyd George to get privileged access to the Soviet Union. There he searches for his next big story, scrutinizing the political and economic situation in Russia.

In Moscow, Jones learns of government-induced hunger in Ukraine carefully kept secret by the Soviets. He manages to go to Ukraine and document the atrocities he witnesses. He also faces fear and hypocrisy experienced not only by Soviet citizens, but also by Western correspondents and politicians who sold the truth for fame and profits.

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We wanted to describe the whole mechanism of Jones entering consecutive circles of hell, confronting brutal reality with his idealism, youthfulness and courage, in an evocative way, yet simply and straightforwardly. No journalistic and informative obviousness, no sentimental blackmail and explicit happy ending. Nobody wanted to listen to the truth about Stalin’s atrocities which Jones exposed.

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Neither was it in the interest of British politics, nor in the interest of the mighty of that world. The truth about Soviet reality, the truth about the Holodomor – Stalin’s man-made famine, as well as the truth about the Holocaust were gagged by the politically and morally corrupted West. The conclusions which can be drawn from this simple story showing – in a very subjective and sensitive way – the untold reality of those years is incredibly valid today when Ukraine is at war provoked by Stalin’s heirs, when Europe is in danger of thousands of internal and external threats and is not able to confront the truth and unite to protect its values.

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The key to the story for me was the story line of George Orwell writing his famous allegorical dystopian novel – Animal Farm. Jones discovering the truth about the mass murder of Ukrainian peasants somehow inspires Orwell’s story and becomes a part of it. We wanted the movie to be simple and real; the stylistic devices we used are mostly invisible, except when we want to express Jones’ motion, energy, his appetite for truth – then we use inspiration from the Soviet avant-garde.

The film finds its substance thanks to the four main actors playing Orwell (Joseph Mawle); Walter Duranty (Peter Sarsgaard), the New York Times Moscow Bureau Chief; the reporter Ada Brooks (Vanessa Kirby), and Gareth Jones (James Norton). And the most difficult is the task of James Norton; he carries all the weight of the story, bringing to life the courage, honesty, and ideas of Mr. Jones – together with his humor, intelligence, and integrity.

We knew, when shooting this film, that we are telling an important timeless story. But only after I realized how relevant is today this tale about the fake news, alternative realities, corruption of the media, cowardness of governments, indifference of people.   

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The clash of Jones’s courage and determination against Duranty’s cynical opportunism and cowardice is still valid as well. Today, we don’t lack corruptible conformists and egoists; we lack Orwells and Joneses. That is why we brought them back to life.

Agnieszka Holland