| In 1863, Mississippi farmer Newt Knight serves as a medic for the Confederate Army. Opposed to slavery, Knight would rather help the wounded than fight the Union. After his nephew dies in battle, Newt returns home to Jones County to safeguard his family but is soon branded an outlaw deserter. Forced to flee, he finds refuge with a group of runaway slaves hiding out in the swamps. Forging an alliance with the slaves and other farmers, Knight leads a rebellion that would forever change history. | |
| Release Date: | Jun 24, 2016 | 
|---|---|
| Director: | Gary Ross | 
| Writer: | Leonard Hartman, Gary Ross | 
| Genres: | Action, Drama, History, War | 
| Keywords | slavery, american civil war | 
| Production Companies | Larger Than Life Productions, Huayi Brothers Pictures, IM Global, Bluegrass Films, STXfilms, Vendian Entertainment, Route One Entertainment, Union Investment Partners, Rahway Road Productions | 
| Box Office | Revenue: $25,035,950 Budget: $50,000,000 | 
| Updates | Updated: Feb 01, 2025 Entered: Apr 13, 2024 | 
| Name | Character | 
|---|---|
| Matthew McConaughey | Newton Knight | 
| Gugu Mbatha-Raw | Rachel | 
| Mahershala Ali | Moses Washington | 
| Keri Russell | Serena Knight | 
| Jacob Lofland | Daniel | 
| Sean Bridgers | Sumrall | 
| Brad Carter | Lieutenant Barbour | 
| Jane McNeill | Miss Ellie | 
| Gary Grubbs | Prosecuting Attorney | 
| Christopher Berry | Jasper | 
| Joe Chrest | Amos Deason | 
| David Jensen | Quitman | 
| Kurt Krause | Injured Soldier | 
| Carlton Caudle | Confederate Color Guard | 
| Martin Bats Bradford | Freedman 1 | 
| Matt Lintz | Matthew Yates | 
| Kerry Cahill | Mary | 
| Jessica Collins | Annie | 
| Juan Gaspard | Confederate Soldier | 
| Liza J. Bennett | Junie Lee | 
| David Maldonado | Polling Station Clerk | 
| Serenity Neil | Schoolgirl | 
| Lawrence Turner | Chester | 
| Lara Grice | Mrs. Deason | 
| Wayne Pére | Col. Robert Lowry | 
| Jim Klock | Farmer 1 | 
| Emily Bossak | Town Folk | 
| P.J. Marshall | Sergeant | 
| Ritchie Montgomery | Third Man | 
| Mattie Liptak | Stillman Coleman | 
| Jill Jane Clements | Aunt Sally | 
| Thomas Francis Murphy | Col. McLemore | 
| Johnny McPhail | Old Man | 
| Bill Tangradi | Lt. Barbour | 
| William Mark McCullough | First Man | 
| Sam Malone | Edward James - Cotton Field Worker | 
| Kylen Davis | Boy at Alice Hotel | 
| Will Beinbrink | Farmer 2 | 
| Troy Hogan | George | 
| Cy Parks | Confederate Soldier | 
| Dane Rhodes | Ward | 
| Lucy Faust | Second Woman / Yeoman Farmer | 
| Stella Allen | Yeoman Girl | 
| Cade Mansfield Cooksey | Older Coleman Brother | 
| Tahj Vaughans | Maroon (uncredited) | 
| Brian Lee Franklin | Davis Knight | 
| Name | Job | 
|---|---|
| Sam Sullivan | Script Supervisor | 
| Bob Bates | Gaffer | 
| Jerry M. Jacob | Second Unit Director of Photography, Second Unit Cinematographer, "B" Camera Operator | 
| Jason Markey | Music Supervisor | 
| Louise Frogley | Costume Design | 
| Wylie Griffin | Art Department Coordinator | 
| Larry Dias | Set Decoration | 
| Timothy A. Wonsik | Assistant Costume Designer | 
| Amy Darden Amos | Seamstress | 
| Adriane Bennett | Set Costumer | 
| David Levy | ADR & Dubbing | 
| Greg Morris | Additional Camera | 
| Danny Singh | Visual Effects Editor | 
| Paul Hsu | Supervising Sound Editor, Sound Re-Recording Mixer | 
| Eric Milano | Foley | 
| Naline Amaral | Visual Effects Coordinator | 
| Marko Costanzo | Foley | 
| Teresa Berus | Visual Effects Coordinator | 
| Jules Holdren | Hair Department Head | 
| Theraesa Rivers | Key Hair Stylist | 
| Meagan Lewis | Casting | 
| Branka Mrkic | Supervising ADR Editor, Supervising Dialogue Editor | 
| Chad Rivetti | First Assistant "A" Camera | 
| Leonard Hartman | Story | 
| Murray Close | Still Photographer | 
| Carlane Passman | Costume Supervisor | 
| Dawn Jefferson | Casting Associate | 
| Meagan McLaughlin | Assistant Costume Designer | 
| Dan Webster | Supervising Art Director | 
| Lisa Magee | Set Costumer | 
| Bela Trutz | Steadicam Operator, "A" Camera Operator | 
| Andrew Max Cahn | Art Direction | 
| Kris Evans | Makeup Artist | 
| Craig Sheppard | Visual Effects Editor | 
| Gershon Hinkson | Visual Effects Editor | 
| David K. Nami | Special Effects Coordinator | 
| Felicity Bowring | Hairstylist | 
| Lee Salevan | Sound Recordist | 
| John Finklea | Music Editor | 
| Parrish Kennington | Set Costumer | 
| Chris Craine | Art Direction | 
| Virle S. Reid | Armorer | 
| Tracey Millar | Set Costumer | 
| Tom Cummins | Set Costumer | 
| Vic Keatley | Rigging Gaffer | 
| Melizah Anguiano Wheat | Key Hair Stylist | 
| Michael Watson | Additional Camera | 
| Henry Wan | Visual Effects Coordinator | 
| Staci Pontius | First Assistant Editor | 
| Khanh Trance | Wigmaker | 
| Jenne Guerra | Visual Effects Producer | 
| Dave Flynch | Foley | 
| Nikoletta Skarlatos | Makeup Department Head | 
| Lisa Beroud | Visual Effects Producer | 
| Nikos Kalaitzidis | Visual Effects Supervisor | 
| Peter Boychuk | Digital Intermediate | 
| Randall D. Wilkins | Set Designer | 
| Milan Janicin | Second Assistant "A" Camera | 
| Matthew Gaumer | Second Assistant "B" Camera | 
| David Pomier | Unit Production Manager | 
| Wade Whitley | First Assistant "C" Camera | 
| Eric Heffron | First Assistant Director | 
| Chris Flurry | First Assistant "B" Camera | 
| Griffin McCann | Second Assistant "C" Camera | 
| Marvin Williams | Second Second Assistant Director | 
| Christopher T. Sadler | Second Assistant Director | 
| Matthew O'Toole | Prosthetic Makeup Artist | 
| Gary Ross | Writer, Director | 
| Pamela Martin | Editor | 
| Benoît Delhomme | Director of Photography | 
| Juliette Welfling | Editor | 
| Philip Messina | Production Design | 
| Dylan Jury | Casting Associate | 
| Kelly Port | Visual Effects Supervisor | 
| Mike Prestwood Smith | Sound Re-Recording Mixer | 
| Debra Zane | Casting | 
| Nicholas Britell | Original Music Composer | 
| Garrett Warren | Second Unit Director, Stunt Coordinator | 
| Gary Archer | Prosthetics | 
| Eric Kasanowski | Compositing Lead | 
| Name | Title | 
|---|---|
| David Pomier | Co-Producer | 
| Diana Alvarez | Co-Producer | 
| Leonard Hartman | Executive Producer | 
| Donald Tang | Executive Producer | 
| Russell Levine | Executive Producer | 
| Samuel Yeunju Ha | Co-Executive Producer | 
| Eric Heffron | Co-Producer | 
| Robin Bissell | Executive Producer | 
| Bruce Nachbar | Executive Producer | 
| Lee Jae Woo | Executive Producer | 
| Michael Bassick | Executive Producer | 
| Sandino Moya-Smith | Associate Producer | 
| Leonard Feder | Executive Producer | 
| T.G. Herrington | Executive Producer | 
| Jerry Ye | Executive Producer | 
| Matt Jackson | Executive Producer | 
| Christopher Lytton | Executive Producer | 
| Elexa Ruth | Co-Executive Producer | 
| Jon Kilik | Producer | 
| Gary Ross | Producer | 
| Scott Stuber | Producer | 
| Wang Zhongjun | Executive Producer | 
| Wang Zhonglei | Executive Producer | 
| Stuart Ford | Executive Producer | 
| Robert Simonds | Executive Producer | 
| Adam Fogelson | Executive Producer | 
| Oren Aviv | Executive Producer | 
| Christopher Woodrow | Executive Producer | 
| Organization | Category | Person | 
|---|
Popularity History
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| 2024 | 4 | 21 | 26 | 15 | 
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| 2025 | 1 | 20 | 31 | 12 | 
| 2025 | 2 | 20 | 53 | 3 | 
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| Year | Month | High | Avg | 
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| 2025 | 7 | 950 | 950 | 
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| 2025 | 3 | 859 | 872 | 
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| 2025 | 2 | 858 | 858 | 
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| 2024 | 12 | 886 | 886 | 
**A country that existed for a brief time in the history of American.** Once again, it proves that the critics are so dumb. In this people to people and people to filmmakers contact era, no one listens to them. Let them do their own sideshow. This was partially based on the real events that takes ... place in the following years of 1862. When America was fighting a civil war, a man named Newton Knight returned home from the battlefield where he started to help the farmers who were robbed by the armymen. Its like they are fighting their own war, to protect the land and the crops. They knew the consequence and so they were prepared for it. This is over a two hour long film and I think they had covered everything nicely. At some stage it looked like the Daniel Craig's 'Defiance'. But it reveals many events like changing time and the atmosphere, how they adapted to it along to move on. In the opening scene only they had shown us the war, but very soon it moved away to tell what's happening off the battlefield. Like how it's affecting the people. So the resistance emerges and the days going by they gain large power in the region. Very interesting perspective, though everything in the film was not true despite overall plot was inspired by the history. Matthew McConaughey alone steered the ship. You will like his performance. The locations were good, but most of them were either farmland or swamp. There's a little event that follows the 80 years later, just to disclose some court law debate over interracial marriage. Not a must see film, maybe if you are an American, then it might be, but other than that its a good watch. I hope the people would realise that and watch it. _8/10_
Quality film. <em>'Free State of Jones'</em> tells the true story of Newton Knight's role in the American Civil War. As you'd hope/expect, it leads to captivating viewing. Matthew McConaughey is superb, while he's supported excellently by Mahershala Ali. It's tough to watch in large portions g ... iven the obvious things from the Civil War era, from the war itself but also to slavery. I had never heard of Newton Knight, so it was very interesting for me to see it unfold and learning bits - even with some creative license, I'm sure. It also serves an important message that slavery didn't end with the Emancipation Proclamation. I personally found the film very well paced and extremely nicely shot, McConaughey and Ali are the stars but there are also notable performances from the likes of Gugu Mbatha-Raw. It's a great film, one that's worth a watch. Sadness and heart aplenty.