Winner of Best Editing in a Feature Documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival 2024

“At this difficult moment in the world’s history – we commend the filmmakers and editors ability to craft a narrative with clarity and urgency – and to ring alarm bells for the consequences of vicious attacks on journalists. For its crisp and compelling narrative.”

Jury Statement

“From its very first moments, “Antidote” unspools like a propulsive thriller. Director James Jones’ galvanizing documentary moves at a fast speed to tell its high-stakes story about Vladimir Putin’s Russia, contemporary investigative journalism and the people who put their lives in jeopardy for what they believe in.

Loss, separation and dread fuel the anxieties of these people at all times. What the film smartly uncovers is why they continue to do what they do.

Jones and editor Rupert Houseman manage to infuse drama and tension, using quick cuts and seamless transitions between the many narrative threads.

This is not a film about what politicians stand for or why they oppose their governments, but rather a story about how a team of journalists uncovers a conspiracy and the impact it has on their lives and the lives of the people they are writing about.

...a rousing, feature-length call to action.”

Variety

“I doubt I’ll see a better or more important documentary this year than Antidote.”

Every single second of Antidote is absolutely riveting. This movie is a tribute to the people who possess the courage to stand up against his tyranny, even though it puts a target on their backs.”

The Aisle Seat

“This documentary, directed by James Jones, paints a compelling picture of the life-threatening risks endured by those bold enough to stand against systemic oppression. Not only is this one of the most timely films, but it also reaches beyond the depths of the story being told.”

“ANTIDOTE does more than chronicle these larger-than-life stories; it is a stark countermeasure to the pervasive lies and corruption plaguing Putin’s administration.

In essence, ANTIDOTE is a poignant exploration of bravery against overwhelming odds... This documentary is a formidable testament to the enduring power of integrity and justice in the relentless face of oppression.”

Overly Honest Movie Review

“Antidote is a vital, intimate look at heroes battling a historic monster, and the grace and courage it takes to continue the fight.”

Kevin Lally on Film

"A real-life high stakes thriller"

Filmmaker Magazine

"An incredible film"

Erin Burnett, CNN

“Superb and urgent film… Jones’ Antidote inspires.”

Blogcritics

"James Jones, one might say, created a sinister detective thriller, operating exclusively with facts and first-hand accounts. He tried to answer the question of what the price might be for telling the truth if you tell it straight to the face of totalitarian power. In the investigative film Antidote, he follows the fates of the brave men who challenged Putin and his regime, immersing the viewer in an atmosphere full of suspense and reminiscent of the spy novels of John le Carré."

Voice of America

"James Jones’ intimate and assertive lens follows three individuals on the frontlines of this campaign against repression and violence: a whistleblower from inside Russia’s “poison program” as he attempts to flee the country, a leading political activist who was poisoned twice and is now accused of treason, and a man who leads the charge on revealing Putin’s criminal network and, as a result, is forced to go into hiding himself. 

Anchored by kinetic storytelling and a determined clarity of purpose, Antidote throws into stark relief the deadly consequences and ramifications of Putin’s schemes and fearlessly foregrounds individuals willing to lose it all in the name of justice and accountability."

Jose Rodriguez, Tribeca Film Festival

A deeply immersed and urgent film that reveals the cost of standing up to Vladimir Putin and telling the truth about modern Russia. It follows a whistleblower from inside Russia's poison programme as he attempts to escape, a prominent political activist who is poisoned twice and now stands trial for treason, and the man exposing Putin's murder machine as he is forced to go on the run himself.

Directed and Produced by James Jones

Editor: Rupert Houseman

Co-Producer: Vivien Jones

Executive Producers: Jim & Susan Swartz, Nina & David Fialkow, Maiken Baird, Jens von Bahr, John Driscoll, Alexia Blaze, Molly & Kevin Efrusy, Jenny Raskin, Geralyn White Dreyfous, Joanna Potts, Nevine Mabro, Louisa Compton, Eliot Higgins, Christo Grozev, Hamish Fergusson, Andrew Ruhemann

Production Executive: Tom Cross

Composer: Uno Helmersson

Animation: David Penn

Cinematography: Edgar Dubrovksiy, Jean-Louis Schuller

Production Coordinator: Will Hofman

Production Manager: Skye McCann

Impact Partners in association with Passion Pictures and Bellingcat Productions.

“It’s a wholly cinematic, sensory experience, with straight-ahead reportage electrified by glaring streetlights and a panicked urban wall of sound; it would make a handsome companion piece to Filipino auteur Brillante Mendoza’s recent “Alpha, the Right to Kill,” a fictionalised Duterte-era action film that aimed for grainy docu-realism as much as Jones and Sarbil’s film trades in more sleekly immersive atmospherics.

Production values here are so dazzlingly high that, for entire sequences at a time, riveted viewers may forget to wonder just how Jones and Sarbil managed to force a camera into the fray. Sarbil, a gifted cameraman who won a cinematography Emmy for his and Jones’s 2017 Frontline episode on Mosul, shoots the nighttime raids with a hot, athletic immediacy that the aforementioned Mendoza (or even Michael Mann) would covet in a fictional context; bodies are silhouetted in the glare of emergency lights, though amid the shadows, we also get close-up glimmers of strained faces on all sides of the law. The idea here is not to aestheticize a human rights crisis, but to show the absurd movie-logic shoot-’em-up that Duterte has allowed the Philippines to become, right down to the “Fury Road”-style death’s-head masks worn by the executors. Populist politics can turn all too easily to popcorn ones; “On the President’s Orders” vividly captures the tipping point.”
Guy Lodge, Variety

“Shot with the stark precision and chiaroscuro tones of a Michael Mann film, James Jones & Olivier Sarbil’s OTPO would be one of the most harrowing escapist thrillers of the year if it weren’t for the sombre realisation that the horror captured is entirely, apocalyptically real.”
POV Magazine

"A real life thriller"
One Movie Our Views

“A must-see. A film that plays like a crime thriller... If it was fiction you’d think it was something from a Scorsese film.”
Frameline

"Masterful foray into the dark side of human behaviour."
Docs On Screens

"Chilling, unflinching"
Cinema Axis

"Powerful, wrenching... visually arresting." ****
NOW Toronto

“Cinematic with a capital C”
BiffBamPop

"In this grimly lurid, thriller-like documentary, filmmakers James Jones and Olivier Sarbil have open access to both police and their victims in a town where beat cops have been promoted into death squads."
Original Cin 

“Ghosts also haunt James Jones and Olivier Sarbil’s On the President’s Orders, a nail-biting investigative look at Philippines strongman Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly “war on drugs” through both its victims – the battle-scarred families of mostly low-level dealers and addicts rendered collateral damage – as well as, even more shockingly, its remorseless perpetrators.”
Filmmaker Magazine

““On the President’s Orders” is a special documentary that doesn’t try to ask all the questions or provide any possible answers. It simply testifies to our dark age of cruelty and dehumanization. Like the great documentarian duo of the Ross brothers, Jones and Sarbil exhibit great empathy by simply watching and listening to people and places, rather than telling us what to think. And, in this instance, bearing witness to the monstrous policies of the Philippine President, who asks: “’Do not do drugs and kill our children because I will kill you.’ So, what is wrong with that statement?”

God help us if we don’t know the answer.”
Roger Ebert

“On the President’s Orders looks like a thriller from the likes of Michael Mann or Christopher Nolan, and it is just as gripping as Heat (1995) or Inception (2010). This is a slick and stylish documentary, with extraordinarily high production values. This is a documentary that is worthy of your complete attention and focus. You will become immersed in this world of drugs, crime, and corruption.
On the President’s Orders is a film that Hollywood should be envious of and a film that you should definitely seek out. *****”
Filmotomy

“In this explosive cinematic investigation, directors James Jones and Olivier Sarbil get alarmingly close to the battle for the streets and soul of the Philippines. Their cameras stand before both sides — the victimised slum communities and the police squads blithely executing their countrymen from a perverse moral high ground. The staggering visions of violence, shot with a kinetic slickness and immediacy, are so electrifying that viewers will have to remind themselves: this is happening now, this is real.”
Melbourne International Film Festival

“A riveting account of the consequences of unfettered demagoguery.”
The Hollywood Reporter

“One of the most heartbreaking, harrowing pieces of journalism I’ve ever seen. Beautifully and subtly told; damning in its indictments.”
William Brangham, PBS Newshour

“A shockingly alarming investigation produced with the sensibilities of a social realist drama, Sarbil and Jones’ nonfiction warning should petrify U.S. viewers immeasurably.”
LA Times

Nominated for Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary at the Emmys

Nominated for the Rory Peck Sony Impact Award

Winner of Best UK Feature at Raindance Film Festival

Winner of Special Jury Prize at HumanDoc Film Festival

Winner of RTS Craft Award for Photography - Documentary

Shortlisted for the Grierson Award for Current Affairs Documentary

The searing story of President Duterte's bloody campaign against drug dealers and addicts in the Philippines, told with unprecedented and intimate access to both sides of the war - the Manila police, and an ordinary family from the slum. 

Shot in the style of a thriller, this observational film combines the look and feel of a narrative feature film with a real life revelatory journalistic investigation into a campaign of killings. 

The film uncovers a murky world where crime, drugs and politics meet in a deathly embrace - and reveal that although the police have been publicly ordered to stop extra-judicial killings, the deaths continue.

Produced and Directed by James Jones
Filmed and Directed by Olivier Sarbil
Produced by Dan Edge & Raney Aronson-Rath
Edited by Michael Harte
Production Managed by Philippa Lacey
Music composed by Uno Helmersson

FRONTLINE PBS, ARTE France, BBC Storyville and Bertha DOC SOCIETY.

onthepresidentsorders.com

"It is an extraordinary film – insanely brave, but also intimate and human."
Guardian

"Extraordinary film... The bravery, fortitude and insight of the film-makers are admirable, that of their subjects even more so."
Telegraph

"Stunner of a new documentary... Heart-pounding, intimate... considered a contender for an Academy Award for Best Short Documentary... The intense, visceral footage is bracing enough, but the insight into the soldiers can be heart-scalding."
Globe and Mail

"Everyone should watch this. One of the most amazing war documentaries in years."
Byline Festival

"Extraordinarily intimate... An astonishing portrait of urban combat, and a gripping reflection of the universal, eternal truth of warfare - that soldiers fight first and foremost for the soldiers alongside them."
Guardian

In October 2016, an elite team of Iraqi Special Forces was tasked with leading the fight to defeat ISIS in Mosul. It was the beginning of a brutal battle of attrition that was to last almost nine months.

Filmed over the course of the whole campaign, Mosul follows the experiences of four young soldiers: Anmar, a college graduate seeking revenge after his father was the victim of a suicide attack; Hussein, a ruthless sniper and aspiring football player; Jamal, a wise-cracking sergeant; and Amjad, a young recruit excited to be on the frontline.

Full of hope and good intentions at the beginning of the campaign, the soldiers are forced to confront the reality of fighting an elusive and vicious enemy in a city full of trapped civilians who are themselves fearful and suspicious of the army. And with victory in sight, tragedy strikes. When ISIS eventually capitulates, much of the city is destroyed, and the surviving soldiers are left haunted by what they have seen and done.

Winner of The Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Documentary at the Overseas Press Club Awards
Winner of an Emmy for Outstanding Cinematography
Winner of DuPont Gold Baton
Winner of Grand Jury Prize at the Golden Nymphs
Winner of the Venice TV Award for Documentary
Winner of Best Documentary at the Broadcast Awards
Winner of the Frontline Club Award
Nominated for a BAFTA Craft Award in the Cinematography category
Nominated for Television Documentary at the One World Media Awards
Nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Short Documentary
Nominated for a Grierson Award - Best Current Affairs Documentary
Nominated at the AIBs - International Affairs Documentary
Nominated at the International Documentary Association Awards

Filmed and Directed by Olivier Sarbil
Co-Directed and Produced by James Jones
Produced by Raney Aronson-Rath & Dan Edge
Edited by Ella Newton
Production Managed by Philippa Lacey

Broadcast on PBS Frontline in October 2017
Broadcast on Channel 4 in November 2017

Ten years after cities across the country were gripped by chaos and looting, this feature documentary is a cinematic and revelatory exploration of the largest social unrest in the UK for a generation.

"Outstanding... remarkable programme"

The Times *****

"Superb"

Telegraph

“Meticulous”

Observer

DOCUMENTARY OF THE WEEK

Radio Times

"A searing reminder of a shocking moment"

Sun

"Insightful, balanced and moving"

Mail ****

"Gripping... powerful oral history"

Telegraph

Watch the film on iPlayer.

Produced and Directed by James Jones

Cinematographer: Olivier Sarbil

Editor: Rupert Houseman

Producers: Elliott Swinburn, Naomi Notice

Production Managers: Diana Francis, Liz Lee, Elea Huston

Archive Producer: Alex Booth

Executive Producer: Darren Kemp

Music: Uno Helmersson

A Top Hat production for the BBC.

"It might make you angry watching. But James Jones' absorbing documentary remains objective, open-minded and journalistic, allowing the events and people to speak for themselves. And it's all the more powerful for that... Shocking and sad, but an objective portrait of a nation divided by race."
Guardian

"James Jones had access to all sides in Rankin’s trial, including the man himself. Unflinching, open-minded, letting the facts speak loud, this was exemplary film making... If ever argument were needed about the fundamental incompatibility of guns and civilization, it was provided by this harrowing ninety minutes of television." *****

Telegraph

"With unique access to all involved this powerful feature-length film follows Rankin's murder trial in forensic detail"
Mail

"Powerful, harrowing documentary"
Radio Times

"Timely and powerful... It's an issue that has sparked protests and civil unrest. Watching this, you might see why."
Telegraph

This gripping feature-length documentary follows the murder trial of a white police officer who killed an unarmed black teenager against the backdrop of an America more racially divided than it has been for decades. 

With unprecedented access to the prosecution and defence, family and friends on both sides and even to the accused former Officer Rankin, this powerful 90-minute documentary from award-winning filmmaker James Jones forensically follows the drama as the trial unfolds and unpicks Rankin’s troubling prior record in the police department. There are no easy answers, no winners, only losers, and everything is played out through the prism of the toxic legacy of race in America.

Nominated for a BAFTA in the Current Affairs category
Nominated at the Royal Television Society TV Journalism Awards
Nominated for a Grierson for Best Single Documentary - International

Filmed, Produced & Directed by James Jones

Producer: Sarah Foudy

Consultant Producer: Jon Swaine

Assistant Producer: Alex Dickerson-Watson

Editors: Christopher Swayne, Todd Downing

Composer: Mat Davidson

Executive Producers: Sarah Waldron, Sam Bagnall

Broadcast on BBC Two in November 2016

Emmy-nominated four-part series for Apple TV on the extraordinary rise and fall of Carlos Ghosn.

“Gripping and, yes, deeply reported, often in real time, Wanted is a gripping take on a wild story that provides generous helpings of rich context, a necessary if sometimes overlooked ingredient in nonfiction filmmaking.

It turns out Wanted isn’t just an investigation; it’s also a caper, depicted in reenactments that boast the editing and cinematography chops of an Ocean’s Eleven movie. The series has its cake and eats it, too, blending high-stakes, shoe-leather reporting with thriller sizzle.”

Rolling Stone

“Because it’s not looking for the sugar spike of a quick gotcha moment, Wanted is able to look at not just legal culpability, but also moral. Taylor and others who moved through Ghosn’s orbit, experienced painful ramifications the former business titan didn’t. With its exemplary production values – the urban establishing shots look like a Michael Mann film – this series captures everything you need to know about Carlos Ghosn’s fall from grace. But the care with which it is assembled means that the how and the why are deeply intertwined. There’s nothing left to hide behind.”

Sydney Morning Herald

“Utterly compelling”

Sunday Times

“A compelling study of grey areas and often contrasting truths”

The Financial Times

“For those who prefer their documentaries much glossier, there is this juicy and fascinating story of the automotive industry executive Carlos Ghosn. The tale is a wild one: Ghosn was the head of Nissan and Renault and was arrested in Japan for financial misdeeds. After being held there in what he called unjust conditions, he escaped — in a trunk on a private plane, in a caper orchestrated by a former Green Beret. “Wanted” is elegantly straightforward, letting the outrageousness of the saga unfold with lucid talking-head explanations. If you enjoy high-end moral ambiguity, dig in.”

New York Times

“This twisty, dramatic tale will leave you agog…

A smart take on a riveting tangle of power, money and greed.”

The Guardian

“Riveting… Jones’ engaging docuseries is a snapshot of people and systems that manipulate and exploit for gain, and the myriad others (from confidants and colleagues to conspirators and shareholders) who suffer for their sins.”

Daily Beast

“Incredible true crime documentary… plays out like a Hollywood thriller.”

Daily Mail

“Unfolds like a twisty thriller”

CNN

“Very good… entertaining filmmaking. Bravo.”

Francis Ford Coppola

Nominated for an Emmy in the Crime and Justice Documentary category

Director: James Jones

Executive Producers: James Gay-Rees, Martin Conway, Paul Martin

Series Edit Producer: Kate Hampel

Senior Producer: Hannah Poulter

Producer: Kate Hardie-Buckley

Editors: Bjorn Johnson, Chis Nicholls, Sam Bergson, Hamit Shonpal, Franco Bogino, Nic Zimmerman, Simon Mason

Researcher: Vivien Jones

Archive Producers: Barry Purkis, Christina Falk

Production Managers: Alice Cady, Matteo Mauroni

Line Producer: Sarah Smith, Roger Houston

Music: Mogwai

A Box to Box production.

"Powerful... distressing... This is no way for children to live, let alone die."
Telegraph

"An amazingly brave —albeit deeply disturbing — piece of work."
*****
Mail

"Uncompromising, balanced film.. unparalleled access on both sides, with the children the guides to their dystopia.
There was beauty to be found in the filmmaking – hazy sunsets and light-bathed streets made the destruction almost beautiful, until we were reminded this was not an episode of Homeland, but their lives now."
Independent

"Full of such piercing moments"
Radio Times

"Bleakly necessary documentary"
Guardian

"Intimate, insightful and thoroughly depressing"
Times

"Heartbreaking documentary"
Mail

Children in Gaza and across the border in Israel have lived through three major conflicts in six years. Last summer more than 500 children were killed in a 51 day war, all but one of them Palestinian. On the Israel side of the border children lived in constant fear of rocket attacks and gunmen raiding from underground tunnels.

This BAFTA-nominated film follows the lives of children on both sides of the conflict in the midst of the war and through the months that followed, revealing how children born so close are growing further apart with each war.

Nominated for a BAFTA in the Current Affairs category
Nominated for a Grierson Award in Best Documentary on a Contemporary Theme - International
Nominated in the Radio Times' Faith Award 2015

Filmed, Produced and Directed by James Jones

Reporter: Lyse Doucet

Local Producers: Hamada Abuqammar, Alon Farago

Editor: Graham Taylor

Composer: Alex Attwood

Executive Producer: Lucy Hetherington

Broadcast on BBC Two in July 2015

"Gripping" 
New York Times

"North Korea is one of the world's most mysterious countries and one of its most dangerous flashpoints. You could learn about it from Dennis Rodman, or you could watch Frontline. Your choice."
USA Today

'Remarkable' 
Daily Mail

'Brilliant' 
Daily Express

'We no longer have to take anybody’s word for the suffering of ordinary people in the world’s most isolated country. The barely believable, sometimes harrowing footage in last night’s North Korea: Life inside the Secret State enabled us to see it with our own eyes.' 
Independent

'Heart-rending accounts of oppression and poverty are presented alongside inspirational examples of human courage' 
Metro

'This is an enormously important historical document of a regime potentially at a tipping point'
Rory Peck Awards Judging Panel

Just two years on the job and armed with nuclear weapons, North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un is the world’s youngest dictator, ruling one of the world’s most isolated countries with an iron fist.

Like his father and grandfather, he is trying to maintain tight control over what the world sees of North Korea—and what North Koreans see of the world.

But as this film reveals in Secret State of North Korea cracks are starting to appear in the regime’s information barrier, and it’s becoming more porous.

Winner of Rory Peck Award for Features
Nominated for a BAFTA in the Current Affairs category
Nominated at the One World Media Awards in the Television category
Finalist at the Ilaria Alpi Award
Shortlisted for Grierson Award - Best Current Affairs Documentary

Filmed, Produced and Directed by James Jones

Assistant Producer: Nia Nguyen

Editor: Todd Downing

Composer: Jack Ketch

Executive Producers: David Henshaw, Raney Aronson-Rath, David Fanning

Broadcast on Channel 4 and Frontline PBS.

"An excellent film by PBS FRONTLINE highlights how intractable ideological differences between east and west are pushing the country to the brink of civil war." 
Christian Science Monitor

In this Emmy-winning documentary, FRONTLINE’s James Jones was on the ground documenting the crisis up-close as unrest in Ukraine provoked one of the biggest confrontations between Russia and the United States since the Cold War.

Winner of a News and Documentary Emmy 2015

Filmed, Produced and Reported by James Jones
Editor: Chris Scurfield
Executive Producers: Eamonn Matthews, Raney Aronson-Rath