The Jump
In the Cold War years of the 1970s, an American patrol boat meets a Soviet ship off the east coast of the United States for talks about fishing rights in the Atlantic. In the midst of this, while Russian commanders are aboard the U.S. Coast Guard vessel where the talks are being held, a Lithuanian sailor jumps across the ten feet of icy water separating the boats. Crash-landing on the deck of the American ship, he desperately begs for asylum. Though they try, the Americans ultimately fail to provide protection and the Soviets are allowed to capture him and brutally return him to their vessel. Thus begins a stranger-than-fiction story of imprisonment, discovery, fame, and freedom. Through rare archival footage and a dramatic first-person re-enactment of that fateful day by Simas Kudirka, the would-be defector himself, this tale of one of the biggest Cold War muddles takes us on a journey of uncanny twists of fate, and the emotional sacrifices of becoming a universal symbol of freedom.
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Cast
5 people
Giedrė Žickytė Director · Rimvydas Leipus Cinematographer Valdis Celmiņš Cinematographer
First release June 22, 2020 · Produced in France, Lithuania, Latvia, Germany · Languages English, Lithuanian
Production
Moonmakers
Production
Faites un Voeu
Production
MDR
Production
LRT
Production
VFS Films
Production
WDR
Production
ARTE
Production
France · Lithuania · Latvia · Germany
Produced in
Languages
Original title
Šuolis
Original language
Lithuanian
Spoken on screen
English · Lithuanian
Release dates
France · June 22, 2020
Digital
No release date listed for United States.
Czechia
October 28, 2020 · Digital · Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival
Italy
October 16, 2020 · Premiere · Rome Cinema Fest
Latvia
November 27, 2020 · Premiere · Art Doc Fest
Poland
October 9, 2020 · Premiere · Warsaw Film Festival
Russia
December 10, 2020 · Premiere · Art Doc Fest
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