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Original Film Title: Dogs and War in Ukraine
Director’s Name:AKANE YAMADA
Writer’s Name: AKANE YAMADA
Producer: TAKASHI SHINOMIYA
Country of Origin: Japan
Country of Filming : Japan, Poland, Ukraine
Language: English, Japanese, Polish, Ukrainian
Runtime: 1 hour 49 minutes
Film Description:
In February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
One month later, director Akane Yamada traveled to the country.
Since the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, Yamada has focused her work on documenting the lives of animals in disaster zones, including the 20-kilometer exclusion zone around the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
At the border with Poland, she witnessed animal welfare organizations from around the world mobilizing to help refugees and their pets.
Even during wartime, some Ukrainians continued to adopt dogs and cats from shelters—animals who, in turn, provided comfort to hearts wounded by war.
Meanwhile, in Borodianka, near Kyiv, a large number of dogs were found dead.
Shocked by the horrifying footage, Yamada spent three years investigating the tragedy to uncover the truth.
In June 2023, she met the women who had rescued dogs from the Borodianka shelter.
Through them, she identified the person in charge and discovered that the shelter had been abandoned during the Russian occupation.
During her reporting, the Kakhovka Dam was destroyed, flooding the Kherson region.
Yamada traveled with a Ukrainian animal rescue team to document efforts to save abandoned animals—dogs and cats left behind—while Russian forces loomed on the opposite bank of the river.
She continued following those who risk their lives to save animals in the most dangerous frontline areas.
In July 2024, she rushed to a children’s hospital in Kyiv that had just been struck by a missile attack.
Through the stories of people who refuse to abandon animals even amid the devastation of war, this documentary portrays the resilience and dignity of those who refuse to surrender to violence.