A Jump for Life is the new feature film in development from double-BAFTA nominated siblings Jacqui Morris and David Morris of Frith Street Films, and based on the memoir of Ruth Albeker Cyprys.
DIRECTORS’ STATEMENT
We cannot deny anti-Semitism in on the rise. The far right is on the rise from Italy’s Melono to Hungary’s Orbán’s, France’s Le Pen and, of course, Putin’s leadership of Russia’s war on the Ukraine. Only a year ago an attack and occupation on a sovereign nation seemed inconceivable, and yet it has become a reality in the context of global politics ever more accommodating to extreme views.
A Jump For Life is far more than a record of what happened over 80 years ago; it is a necessary film in today’s world.
Frith Street Films has a long standing association with Ukraine, and this project started with our Ukrainian producer and team shortly before the war broke. Thankfully many of our Ukrainian team safely relocated to Poland, where we will now shoot the film.
As my production designer Darko Petrovic and I were looking at reference pictures of the destruction of Warsaw for the sets of A Jump For Life, it hit home we were witnessing these very same scenes every night coming out of present-time Ukraine. Subject to the end of the war allowing, we aim to shoot the final scenes of the obliterated Warsaw for this film in one of the obliterated towns in Ukraine, giving the film the same real urgency that is felt today. And we shouldn't forget, based on present-day borders, one in every four Jewish victims of the Holocaust was murdered in Ukraine.
Although this is not a documentary, in our feature film we will hear from key witnesses of war including Don McCullin, Volodymyr Zalenski and others.
All these factors further Ruth’s story in A Jump For Life, and transform it from a memoir of a past time into a relevant story of the tragedy that anti-Semitism and anti-humanitarian attacks ensure. Most importantly, A Jump For Life is a latently needed tale of our capacity to overcome the biggest of challenges when even our freedom and humanity are under attack.
This is an uplifting film about how individuals can fight back.
