//26.01.2022 (Wednesday), 6.00 pm
// Marek Edelman Dialogue Center, 83. Wojska Polskiego St., Survivors Park
// free admission
„Mr. Jones“, directed by Agnieszka Holland, Poland/Great Britain, Ukraine 2019, 119‘
Agnieszka Holland’s latest film introduces us to the world of foreign journalists in Moscow during the 1930s. There’s Walter Duranty (Peter Sarsgaard), chief correspondent for the New York Times and controversial apologist for Stalin’s policies, and Gareth Jones (a superb James Norton), whose short career had already seen him advise Prime Minister David Lloyd George. He became one of the few journalists of his time to expose Stalin’s despotic nature. As scripted by Orwell authority Andrea Chalupa, the film throws startling and horrific light on Stalin’s brutal treatment of the agrarian class. Holland, whose career has flourished in both cinema and television, directs with real passion and commitment. And Jones’ struggle to reveal unpalatable truths to a world unwilling to confront an inconvenient political reality has uncomfortable contemporary parallels.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/06ahxhdTV8Y
Agnieszka Holland
Born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1948, Agnieszka Holland graduated from the FAMU Film School in Prague and began her career assisting Krzysztof Zanussi and Andrzej Wajda. She collaborated with Krzysztof Kieslowski on the screenplay of his trilogy, THREE COLOURS. 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 Silver Berlin Bear, and being nominated for an Oscar, BAFTA and Emmy.
OPEN CINEMA is part of the OPEN ŁÓDŹ project, organized by the University of Łódź, the Municipal Police Headquarters in Łódź, and the Marek Edelman Dialogue Center. One of the aims of the project is to develop common strategies for improving the safety of foreign nationals in Łódź and for their increased integration with the local community. The workshops in intercultural communication for police officers, English language courses, and trainings for foreign nationals devoted to safety issues will include screenings of movies from all over the world.
Screenings planned as part of the OPEN CINEMA series include some of the most prominent pictures released in recent years which depict various cultural and linguistic circles, such as Fatih Akin’s “In the Fade”, Kirill Serebrennikov’s “Leto”, or Ritesh Batra’s “Dabba”.