Operation Wedding

During the Cold War the Iron Curtain was shut, leaving the people of the USSR hidden and isolated from the world. Many wanted to escape from this isolation but their rights and liberty had been taken away.
The feature documentary “Operation Wedding” tells the story of a group of 16 Soviet civilians, mostly Jewish, who in 1970 had the courage to stand up and fight for their freedom. They plotted to buy all the seats to a small plane, throw out the pilots before takeoff and fly it to Sweden, knowing they faced a huge risk of being captured or shot down. They proceeded in the hopes that this action would give them a platform to inform the world of the conditions behind the Iron Curtain.
They were arrested at Smolny Airport, near Leningrad, steps from the aircraft. Most were sentenced to Siberian work camps; two were sentenced to death. However, their message got out. As a direct result of their bravery, world pressure was galvanized to force the USSR to open its iron curtain Freeing 1.5 million Jews throughout the 1970’s and 80’s.
This documentary, directed by the daughter of the group’s leaders, will tell the whole story for the first time. It will cover the planning, the attempted hijacking, the trials, and the ten years of incarceration that followed.
This event was one of the major turning points that changed the whole mentality of Soviet Jewry. This film will serve as an important vehicle for a wide audience to understand how the global Soviet Jewry movement got its start. It will illustrate how the actions of students and housewives motivated leaders of influence in the free world, and ultimately led to the parting of the Iron Curtain.
The documentary contains interviews with most of the remaining members of the 16 freedom fighters, but focuses mainly on Sylva Zalmanson who was the face of the revolution, and Eduard Kuznetsov, who was the leader of the group and Sylva’s husband at the time.
Next Year In Jerusalem website

1881 Productions was a co-producer on the film in charge of all Filming in the United States and Israel. We also aided with the rough edit and raised all of the initial funds for the film. We helped this director’s film come to life!