Gareth Jones (director)

Gareth Jones (born 9 February 1951) is a British film and television director and screenwriter, owner of independent production company Scenario Films.

Background

Gareth Jones was born in London in February 1951, son of BBC Foreign Correspondent Ivor Jones and Jane Ann Sterndale Bennett. He is the grandson of the actress Athene Seyler[1][2] and great-great-grandson of the composer William Sterndale Bennett. He was educated at Westminster School and St. John's College, Cambridge where he read Modern Languages. After graduation in 1973, he trained for a year at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama before joining Prospect Theatre Company, where he worked with Kenny McBain, directing Shakespeare, Brecht, Strindberg and Chekhov.

He was Director of Productions at bilingual Welsh/English touring company Theatr yr Ymylon, and between 1977 and 1980 worked as a freelance theatre director for the Royal Court Theatre with Stuart Burge, and Theatr Clwyd where he directed his own plays My People (based on the short stories of Caradoc Evans) and Solidarity[3] During the 1980s he published two novels Lord of Misrule and Noble Savage.

After training as a television director at HTV Wales, he joined Granada Television at the invitation of producer Bill Podmore for whom he directed Coronation Street and comedy drama series Brass[4][5][6] starring Timothy West, Caroline Blakiston and Barbara Ewing, the second series of which he also produced. From 1984-7 he worked as a freelance writer/director for BBC television drama, writing drama series Fighting Back[7][8] starring Hazel O'Connor and 5-part drama Shalom Salaam,[9][10][11] a ground-breaking Jewish-Muslim love story starring Mamta Kaash, Toby Rolt, Ayub Khan-Din and Charlotte Cornwell, which he also directed.

Other television directing credits include The Trial of Klaus Barbie[12][13] (1987) which was based on court transcripts and screened shortly after the verdict, Watch with Mother and Seeing in the Dark for BBC Drama, and Seduction – Tell Me More for Channel 4 for whom he also shot and co-wrote 3-part documentary Born of the One Father (Au Nom du Même Père) in 1980–1.

Jones has worked as a screenwriter in Europe, where his credits include television movies such as Forbidden Zone (Verbotene Zone)[14] and Not Without You (Nicht Ohne Dich)[15] for German broadcaster ZDF, The Gift of Life (Un Cadeau: la Vie) for France 2, Joseph, Mary Magdalen, Thomas and Saul of Tarsus for Mediaset in Italy, and award-winning feature film Bonhoeffer - Agent of Grace, starring Ulrich Tukur.[16]

Most recently, Jones has written and directed a trilogy of feature films known collectively as the D-Trilogy, Desire (2009),[17][18][19] Delight (2013) starring Jeanne Balibar,[20][21] and Delirium (2016).[22]

Since 2007 he has run feature film development initiative Babylon,[23] aimed at promoting cultural diversity within the independent film sector in Europe, and to provide an international platform for emerging filmmakers.

In 2011 he was awarded his PhD from Cambridge University[24] for his thesis Rites of Recuperation: Film and the Holocaust in Germany and the Balkans.

Jones lives in London with his spouse and business partner, producer and composer Fiona Howe,[25] and their two children. He has two elder children, both university academics, by an earlier marriage.

Career

Film and Television Credits

Year(s)TitleRoleChannel/DistributorDuration
1980Crown CourtWriterGranada Television3 x 30 mins
1981Coronation StreetDirectorGranada Television14 x 30 mins
1983Brass (Series 1)DirectorGranada Television13 x 25 mins
1984Brass (Series 2)Producer/DirectorGranada Television13 x 25 mins
1985Albion Market (Pilot)DirectorGranada Television2 x 30 mins
1985-6Albion MarketProducerGranada Television70 x 30 mins
1986Fighting BackWriterBBC Television5 x 60 mins
1987The Trial of Klaus BarbieDirectorBBC Television1 x 90 mins
1988Shalom SalaamWriter/DirectorBBC Television5 x 60 mins
1988Watch with MotherDirectorBBC Television1 x 75 mins
1989Seeing in the DarkDirectorBBC Television1 x 75 mins
1990Seduction: Tell Me MoreDirectorChannel 41 x 20 mins
1991Born of the One Father (Au Nom du Même Père)DirectorChannel 4/TF13 x 50 mins
1994Forbidden Zone (Verbotene Zone)Co-WriterZDF/ARTE1 x 90 mins
1995-6Open Sundays (Sonntags Geöffnet)Co-WriterRTL13 x 50 mins
1999The Gift of Life (Un Cadeau la Vie)Co-WriterFrance 21 x 90 mins
1999Joseph (Giuseppe)WriterMediaset1 x 90 mins
2000St Paul (San Paolo)WriterMediaset2 x 90 mins
2000Mary Magdalene (Maria Maddalena)WriterMediaset1 x 90 mins
2000Bonhoeffer - Agent of Grace (Die letzte Stufe)WriterARD/Theatrical1 x 90 mins
2001Thomas (Tommaso)WriterMediaset1 x 90 mins
2001Not Without You (Nicht Ohne Dich)Co-WriterZDF1 x 90 mins
2009DesireWriter/DirectorScenario Films/Theatrical1 x 90 mins
2013DelightWriter/DirectorScenario Films/Theatrical1 x 100 mins
2016DeliriumWriter/DirectorScenario Films/Theatrical1 x 100 mins

Awards and Nominations

YearAwardCategoryTitleResult
1983British Press Guild AwardBest Light EntertainmentBrassWon
1989FIPA, CannesBest ActressShalom SalaamWon
1989FIPA, Cannes, SACD AwardBest ScreenplayShalom SalaamWon
200040th International TV Festival Monte CarloNymphe d'OrBonhoeffer - Agent of GraceWon
2000DAG Writer's Award, GermanyGold Medal, Most Challenging German FilmBonhoeffer - Agent of GraceWon
2000New York FestivalBronze World MedalBonhoeffer - Agent of GraceWon
200917th Raindance Film Festival 2009Best UK FeatureDesireNominated
2013German Script Prize 2013Best ScriptA Slice of SeaNominated
201335th Moscow Film Festival 2013Golden St George, Best FilmDelightNominated

Theatre and Radio Credits

YearTitleRoleVenue/BroadcasterDescription
1980My PeopleWriter/Adaptor/DirectorTheatr Clwyd/TourTheatre Play
1981SolidarityWriter/DirectorTheatr ClwydTheatre Play
1981SolidarityWriterBBC Radio 3Theatre Play
1981Lord of MisruleWriter/NovelBBC Radio 49-part Dramatization
1982The Drovers' RoadsWriter/Director/PresenterBBC WalesRadio Documentary
1982Night Must FallDirectorTheatr ClwydTheatre Play

Published Works

YearTitleRolePublisherDescription
1980Lord of Misrule(aka The Disinherited)AuthorFarrar, Straus & Giroux US/Gollancz/Penguin UKNovel
1985Noble SavageAuthorWeidenfeld & Nicolson/Sphere UKNovel
2006The OptimistsAuthorKinokultura, November 2006, ed IordanovaFilm Criticism/Academic
2006Sarajevo - Trauma RevisitedAuthorBeyond Camps and Forced Labour, ed Steinert and Weber-Newth (Osnabrück: Secolo, 2007)Film Criticism/Academic
2007The Cinema of the BalkansAuthorHistorical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 27, Issue 2Film Criticism/Academic
2007An Inner Exodus: The Many Diasporas of Balkan CinemaAuthorCineaste, Vol XXXII, No 3Film Criticism/Academic
2010Future Imperfect; European Cinema in Motion: Migrant and Diasporic Film in Contemporary Europe ed. Berghahn and SternbergAuthorPalgrave Macmillan, 2010Film Criticism/Academic

References

  1. Athene Seyler on Desert Island discs 2 October 1988. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/find-a-castaway/books/gareth%2Bjones
  2. Correspondence between Athene Seyler and J. C. Trewin 6, 9 April 1981, p 18 re G Jones The Disinherited. http://www.reading.ac.uk/web/FILES/special-collections/trewin.pdf
  3. The Guardian, Carol Wilks review, 30 April 1981.
  4. TV Times Magazine 26 February - 4 March 1983, cover story and article pp16-19
  5. Arts Guardian 15 March 1983, review by Peter Fiddick
  6. Guardian Online 24 May 2012 "Your next box set: Brass". https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2012/may/24/brass-your-next-box-set
  7. Radio Times 2–8 August 1986, cover article pp 4-5
  8. Sunday Times review 17 August 1986, Rachel Hepburn
  9. Radio Times 22–28 April 1989, article pp 10-11
  10. Sunday Times article 5 February 1989, Amit Roy
  11. Making Sense of Suburbia Through Popular Culture – Rupa Huq (Bloomsbury, 2013) p164 https://books.google.com/books?id=MoKuVLHEMvUC&dq=shalom+salaam+bbc+1989&source=gbs_navlinks_s
  12. Sunday Times Review 19 July 1987, Patrick Stoddart, p 58
  13. The Guardian, Media Page, 13 July 1987, Peter Fiddick, p13
  14. https://pro.imdb.com/title/tt0114832/
  15. https://pro.imdb.com/title/tt0282794/
  16. https://pro.imdb.com/title/tt0250264/
  17. Johnian News Issue 26 October 2009: Desire - A Film by Gareth Jones starring Oscar Pearce. http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/johnian-news-issue-26
  18. 17th Raindance Film Festival Nominations Best UK Feature 2009. http://www.raindance.co.uk/site/raindance-film-festival-awards-2009%5B%5D
  19. Screen Daily Review - Desire 3 March 2011. http://www.screendaily.com/reviews/latest-reviews/desire/5024501.article
  20. Moscow Times Article 21 June 2013. http://www.themoscowtimes.com/arts_n_ideas/article/35th-moscow-international-film-festival-takes-off/482001.html
  21. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/moscow-film-fest-kick-thursday-570884
  22. http://www.screendaily.com/news/gareth-jones-delirium-begins-shoot/5092217.article
  23. http://www.screendaily.com/european-partners-start-new-initiative-for-minority-film-makers/4028210.article
  24. http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/reporter/2010-11/weekly/6234/6234.pdf p11
  25. https://pro.imdb.com/name/nm0397816/


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