PRESS KIT | Under Jakob's Ladder | a Moon Brothers film

UNDER JAKOB'S LADDER

a MOON brothers film

Starring Jeff Stewart

of the UK’s long-running police drama The Bill, winner of Best Continuing Drama 2009 (British Academy of Film and Television Arts)

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Tagline

In that place, you never knew who you could TRUST...

Logline

At the outbreak of World War II, another silent war rages in Russia. Nikolai, the head of a Soviet Prison puts into motion a secret vendetta against Jakob, the lowly teacher who had once humiliated his father, a chess grandmaster. How will Jakob escape the trap Nikolai has set?

Synopsis

UNDER JAKOB'S LADDER is the story of a vendetta that began because of a game of chess. It all started when a country teacher named Jakob Seel (played by Jeff Stewart) defeats a Russian grandmaster. The grandmaster's son, Nikolai, secretly vows to take revenge on the teacher.

Twenty years pass by. Unaware of the vendetta, Jakob is now a 60-year-old man. The Soviet regime is now solidly in place and Jakob has been dismissed from his teaching position in the community. Jakob struggles with his growing sense of worthlessness. So, when a neighbor asks him to publicly speak at the funeral of her brother, he agrees, even though he knows the government forbids it. Later that night comes the ominous knock on the door. Jakob has been reported. The secret police take him from his home and his beloved granddaughter, Marta.

Thrown into a Soviet detention camp, Jakob finds himself under the heel of the ruthless warden: Nikolai (Christopher Elliott). While Jakob is unaware of Nikolai's identity as the grandmaster's son, little by little, Jakob begins to put the clues together. The prisoners are forced to play chess with the warden. If they win, he promises to free them. But if they lose, they face torture. And Nikolai always wins.

Suddenly, during the night, some of the prisoners mysteriously disappear. The prisoners turn to Jakob for help. Jakob sends a message, offering to play a game of chess with Nikolai. But Nikolai has one more trick up his sleeve.

Based on a True Story

Inspired by a little-known ethnic people called the German-Russians who became victims of Soviet genocide. Though their fight against Kaiser and Fuehrer are largely forgotten, their memory lingers. This film depicts their plight in the 1930s USSR under the iron fist of Stalin.

Under Jakob's Ladder | Online Press Kit

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