The Gardener, the Buddhist and the Spy
The Gardener, the Buddhist & the Spy is a gripping story about power struggle, failure, and the delicate balance between good and bad.
Year
2025
Length
95 min
Director
Håvard Bustnes
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Synopsis
Rob Moore, a former TV producer, lives a life of secrets and deception. For five years he has pretended to be a journalist and documentary filmmaker to gain the trust of anti-asbestos activists. In reality, he has worked undercover as a spy for the asbestos industry mafia. When his true identity is revealed, the shock waves hit the activists hard.
But Rob refuses to be labelled a cynical fraud. He says he in fact was a double agent secretly gathering evidence against his own employers – greedy oligarchs and multinational corporations trying to prevent a global ban on asbestos. With the revelation of the spy scandal, Rob’s life is in ruins, but he sees an opportunity to regain his credibility. He convinces two veteran British journalists to tell his story about widespread corruption in a podcast.
As the journalists delve deeper into the case, they get increasingly concerned with Rob’s mysterious past and the ethical dilemmas of his espionage. The boundaries between truth and lies become blurred. Is Rob a truth-seeking whistleblower or a cynical manipulator? And who controls the narrative? As the journalists attempt to uncover the truth, they realize that they themselves are caught in a web of lies and that Rob’s story may be hiding a threat bigger than anyone could have imagined.
Director
Håvard Bustnes
Director of Photography
Amy Newstead
Cut
Torkel Gjørv
Sound
Håvard Bustnes
Music
Nils Kacirek
Sound Design
Kai Storck
Mixing
Sascha Heiny
Color Correction
Bernie Greiner
Graphics
Studio Fritz Gnad
Production Management Beetz Brothers
Marcel Rechten
Herstellungsleitung Beetz Brothers
Ferdinand Freising
Postproduction Management
Alexander Steyer (Beetz Brothers)
Jonas Hannestad (Indie Film)
Producer
Silje Poulsen Viki (Indie Film)
Nele Thumser (Beetz Brothers)
Eva Fouquet (Beetz Brothers)
Executive Producer
Carsten Aanonson
Håvard Bustnes
Reinhardt Beetz
Kat Mansoor
Production Management NDR
Frederik Keunecke
Assistant Editor NDR/arte
Kristina Madejczyk
Commissioning Editor NDR/arte
Kathrin Bronnert
Editorial Management NDR/arte
Claudia Cellarius
Sales & distribution
- Press kit
- Press photos