The Jump
Directed by Giedre Zickyte
2020Documentary83 minLithuania
In 1970 a Soviet sailor leapt onto a U.S. patrol boat in a bid for freedom, only to be handed back; decades later he re-enacts his daring jump.
Synopsis
It’s Thanksgiving Day, 1970, the Atlantic Ocean. A US patrol boat meets a Soviet fishing vessel. A Soviet sailor jumps across the icy water onto the American boat in a frantic bid for freedom. To his horror, and to the outcry of the world media, the Americans return him to the Soviets. Through rare archival footage and a dramatic, first-person re-enactment by the would-be defector, 86-year-old Simas Kudirka, we relive one of the most unpredictable Cold War muddles.
The director
Giedre Zickyte
Giedrė Žickytė is a Lithuanian documentary filmmaker whose films include Master and Tatyana. The Jump premiered at IDFA in 2020.
