Oscar-winning actor and pro-Ukrainian activist Sean Penn has signed on to star in the Ukrainian film drama War through the eyes of animals.
The film is a nine-part anthology directed by nine Ukrainian filmmakers that tells the story of the war in Ukraine through the perspectives of various animals involved in the conflict. Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi, acclaimed Ukrainian director of The Tribe (2014) will direct the ninth and final installment, starring Penn as an American sound engineer who inadvertently witnesses the outbreak of war when Russian troops invade on February 24, 2022.
The filming of the segment will take place in the summer of 2023 in Ukraine and Los Angeles.
Penn has been an outspoken supporter of Ukraine since the beginning of the war. The two-time Oscar winner was in Ukraine shooting a documentary for Vice Studios when war broke out. Co-directed with Aaron Kaufman, the film was initially conceived as a tongue-in-cheek look at comedic actor turned president, Volodymyr Zelensky. Instead it became Superpower, a depiction of Zelensky’s heroic wartime leadership. When the film premiered at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, Penn took the opportunity to call on Western governments to increase military aid to Ukraine.
The poster for ‘War through the eyes of animals’
“I love being a part of this movie. It is a great honor for me to work with the incredible actor and outstanding person, and one of Ukraine’s greatest friends, Sean Penn,” said Myroslav. “He was with us during the February 24 attack and goes deep into the war and Ukraine in his documentary. His support is invaluable to us and cannot be overemphasized.”
War through the eyes of animals is produced by Ukrainian production outfits SOTA Cinema Group and Kleos Art, with Oleg Kokhan and Oleksiy Makukhin as producers.
“All the stories in our film anthology are based on real events,” Kokhan noted, “and it is critical to us that artists of Sean Penn’s caliber not only acknowledge the terrifying reality we depict, but also speak up This underscores the relevance of the film’s ecocide theme in Ukraine. Every bullet, every missile fragment and every drop of contaminated fuel that contaminates our country represents a slow-acting chemical weapon that is destroying our ecosystem. Sean Penn has seen the situation in Ukraine with his own eyes seen, so it was not necessary to convince him of the importance of the theme. He belongs to the select group of stars who wholeheartedly support causes they believe in and are ready to take action.”
War through the eyes of animals is scheduled for release in the winter of 2023-2024.
You can watch the trailer for the movie below.
