Hell Jumper is the story of the war in Ukraine as you’ve never seen it, captured through the eyes – and the extraordinary first person POV footage – of a group of volunteers saving strangers’ lives in one of the most dangerous places on Earth.
It is an unforgettable and immersive story of courage, passion and loss among idealistic young people risking their lives in the middle of a war zone, without military support.
At the heart of the film is 28-year-old Chris Parry from Cornwall, who, without telling his family, decided to jump into a white van and head into Ukraine. There, he hooked up with a rag-tag bunch of civilian ‘evacuators’ from all over the world – so-called “Hell Jumpers” – crowdfunding vehicles and equipment to help people escape their burning homes deep in the danger zone.
Chris and his friends were as interested in TikTok and Instagram as they were frontline rescues. They would upload footage of their daring rescue missions or near misses to social media, as a way of raising money to fund their operations.
BBC2 – 1 x 90′
Executive Producer: Colin Barr
Director: Paddy Wivell
Editor : Rupert Houseman
Music Team
Composer: Alexander Parsons
Trumpet: Christos Stylianides
Cello: Joe Zeitlin
Additional Production: Dan Green, Ollie Howell
Orchestration: Kezia Tomsett
Engineers: Andy Ramsey, Frances Edwards
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With special thanks to Charlotte Partt, Ian Arber, Joe Alexander, Kylie Maxcy, Matthew Cracknell, Ollie Howell, Ross Martin, Sandy Nuttgens and Tara Creme, who performed in our credits choir