The premiere of the fiction anthology Animals in War took place in Kyiv. The film consists of seven short stories about the war in Ukraine, with animals serving as symbols, witnesses, and participants in a human tragedy. Work on the project began in 2022, soon after the full-scale invasion started, and its world premiere was held in June at the Tribeca festival in New York.
One of the segments, The Eagle by Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi, centers on an American producer played by Sean Penn. His character is editing a wildlife film and, via video link, searches for a “special sound of silence” in the Chornobyl reserve. That carefully found soundscape is suddenly broken by explosions and gunfire.
Slaboshpytskyi said the idea for the anthology came to producer Oleh Kokhan during a night shift in Ukraine’s territorial defense. The director agreed to join after being offered the chance to make an episode with a world-famous actor. According to him, Sean Penn was sent a link to the film The Tribe, after which he agreed to take part.
“He is deeply immersed in the subject of Ukraine, asked a lot about the war and, in my view, is 200% on our side,” Slaboshpytskyi said.
The director first met Penn in Cannes in 2023. They then spent several days together discussing Ukraine, including the transfer of F-16 aircraft and the summer counteroffensive of the Ukrainian armed forces. Filming in the United States was complicated by the Hollywood strike, and the team had to obtain special permission to work. The episode was shot at Evergreen Studios in Burbank, and the visual approach, the director said, referenced Brian De Palma’s Blow Out.
Explaining the film’s broader idea, Slaboshpytskyi stressed that war kills not only people: ecosystems are damaged, vast territories are polluted, and millions of animals die. According to figures shown in the film’s end credits, 20 species have disappeared in Ukraine during the war, and more than 10 million animals have died overall.