The Testimony of Taliesin Jones
Synopsis
Others don't see the world the way he does. When his mother leaves home with her hairdresser to put more colour in her life, Taliesin is left behind with his distracted father, sullenly adolescent brother and his own creeping uncertainty to try and make sense of this sudden conspiracy of events. It is only with elderly Billy Evans, piano teacher and part time healer that Taliesin finds a source of miracles, miracles which transform his life . . .
The Testimony of Taliesin Jones is a beautifully measured story exploring the troubled borderland between childhood and adolescence. Poetic, precisely observed and filled with humour, it examines the resources of imagination and faith to which children can turn when faced with the confusion and imperfection of the adult world they are about to enter.
Details
- Year
- 2000
- Type of project
- Features
- Running time
- 95 mins
- Format
- 35mm Kodak
- Director
-
Martin Duffy
- Producer
- Michael Ryan, Guy Collins
- Editor
- Jonathan Rudd
- Screenwriter
- Maureen Tiluyou
- Director of Photography
- Tony Imi
- Principal cast
- Jonathan Pryce, Griff Rhys Jones, Geraldine Chaplin, Matthew Rys, Ian Bannen, John-Paul Macleod
Genre
Categories
Production Status
Production Company
Snake River/Frontier Features c/o Frontier Suite 303, 29 Great Pulteney Street London W1 Tel: 020 7494 0957 Fax: 020 7494 0956 Email: frontpic@aol.com
Sales Company
IAC Films 23 Ransome's Dock 35-37 Parkgate Road London SW11 4NP Tel: 020 7801 9080 Fax: 020 7801 9081 claudette@iacholdings.co.uk
Page updates
This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.
See also
You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.
The Testimony of Taliesin Jones
Director: Martin Duffy
Year: 2000
When Tal Jones' mother leaves home to live with her hairdresser, the 12-year-old boy is left to deal with his uncommunicative father (Jonathan Pryce) and bitter older brother (Matthew Rhys), as well as all the other problems of growing up in a Welsh farming community, such as bullying, piano lessons and warts. The Testimony Of Taliesin Jones takes an unexpected turn, when Tal finds out his elderly piano teacher Billy Evans (Ian Bannen, in one of his last roles before his death last year) is a faith healer. Billy heals Tal's warts, inspiring him to form his own gang, the Believers, who land in trouble when they try to cure a school mate with diabetes. The result is a story about God, belief and miracles. Based on Welsh writer Rhidian Brook's first novel, which won the Somerset Maugham Award in 1997 and was shortlisted for Welsh Novel of the Year, the material had particular appeal for director Martin Duffy, who had worked with healer Finbarr Nolan on his autobiography Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son. Unknown actor John-Paul Macleod was chosen from hundreds of hopefuls for the title role. Duffy's first feature, The Boy From Mercury, won several awards, including three of the main prizes at the Giffoni children's film festival in Italy. His next film is The Bumblebee Flies Anyway, starring Elijah Wood and Janeane Garofalo. The Testimony Of Taliesin Jones had its first screening in the Cannes market in May.
Grin
Director: Lawrence Fowler
Year: 2026
Following a horrific crime committed when they were young, a group of four friends think it will remain a secret forever until they discover and play a vintage board game. When the game unwittingly summons the grotesque clown demon ‘Grin’, it soon becomes clear the demon targets those who have committed terrible sins. Official selection FrightFest 2026
The Public
Director: Asa Gartland
Year: 2026
The Public have just played the best gig of their lives, and for the first time, someone in a suit is interested. It feels like the moment they have been waiting for, but celebrations quickly descend into chaos. Andy, the band's quiet and devoted guitarist, watches as his dream begins to dissolve around him. A chain reaction is set in motion as secrets are exposed, loyalties shift, and buried tensions explode to the surface. As the night spirals further out of control, the frontman, Ted, is pulled toward a future that could take him away for good. Andy becomes desperate to save Ted from himself and hold everything together, even as it becomes clear that some things will never be the same.