Hollywood actor Sean Penn opens world premiere of Ukrainian film in New York

The international Tribeca Film Festival in New York hosted the world premiere of the Ukrainian film anthology War Through the Eyes of Animals, starring Oscar winner Sean Penn, with a soundtrack by the world-famous band Imagine Dragons. 

This was reported by SOTA Cinema Group.

The film anthology was presented to American audiences by the author of the idea and producer of War Through the Eyes of Animals Oleh Kokhan, producers Oleksiy Makukhin, Adam Siegel, Andreas Malina, cinematographer Byron Werner, and actress Daria Marchenko.

During a briefing by the creative team after the screening of War Through the Eyes of Animals with journalists and guests of the premiere, when asked by renowned American actor Chris Noth how the actors in the anthology film manage to act in such a way that the viewer cannot tell that they are watching a feature film rather than a documentary about war, actress Daria Marchenko replied: ‘It wasn't difficult because we weren't acting, we've been living in this reality for four years now.’

After viewing the film, journalists called the anthology a poignant reflection on the impact of war, shown not through the usual scenes of combat, but through the silent suffering of animals caught up in human conflict.

All the stories in the anthology are based on real events, and they are all united by one theme: empathy for the victims of this war. The authors of these stories include well-known Ukrainian directors such as Myroslav Slaboshpytskyy, Ivan Sautkin, Yuliya Shashkova, Oleksiy Mamedov, as well as talented debut directors Andriy Lidahovskyy, Max Tuzov, and Svyatoslav Kostyuk. Actors Maryna Koshkina, Oleksandr Pecherytsya, Mykhaylo Matyukhin, Olha Korotyayeva, Dasha Marchenko, popular blogger Olha Martynyshyn, and young actors Artem Chernyi, Polina Hayova, Mykhaylo Pulyanskyy, Nazar Hladyuk, and others helped tell the animals' stories.

The film was shot in Ukraine and the United States during the war, with over 500 artists and crew members participating, demonstrating Ukrainian creative resistance and international solidarity. The partners of War Through the Eyes of Animals were the European Solidarity Fund For Ukrainian Films (ESFUF) and the social initiative Save Pets of Ukraine, which has been caring for animals affected by the war since the start of the full-scale invasion. The world premiere of the film anthology was supported by Razom for Ukraine.