Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn will join the Ukrainian drama anthology War Through the Eyes of Animals, SOTA Cinema Group announced yesterday. The first trailer for the film was presented by the Ukrainian film company at this year's Berlin Film Festival.

The American actor will portray a sound engineer who inadvertently becomes a witness to the outbreak of war. Filming of the segment is scheduled to take place in Ukraine and Los Angeles during the summer of 2023. It will be one of nine united in one drama anthology War Through the Eyes of Animals, directed by nine Ukrainian filmmakers and telling stories of the war through the perspectives of various animals. The ninth and final installment will be directed by Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi, the creator of one of Ukraine's most acclaimed films, The Tribe. Myroslav expressed his excitement, stating, "I am absolutely thrilled to be a part of this film. It is a great honor for me to collaborate with the incredible actor and outstanding person, and one of Ukraine's greatest friends, Sean Penn. He was with us during the attack on the 24th of February and deeply explores the war and Ukraine in his documentary film. His support is invaluable to us and cannot be overstated," said Myroslav.

The project is being produced by Ukrainian companies SOTA Cinema Group and Kleos Art, with Oleh Kokhan and Oleksiy Makukhin serving as producers. Oleh Kokhan, the creator of the film concept, emphasized the significance of international artists like Sean Penn participating in the project, stating: "All the stories in our film anthology are based on real events, and it is crucial for us that artists of Sean Penn's caliber not only acknowledge the terrifying reality we depict but also contribute their voices. This underscores the relevance of the film's ecocide theme in Ukraine. Every bullet, every rocket fragment, and every drop of polluted fuel that contaminates our land represents a slow-acting chemical weapon that devastates our ecosystem. Sean Penn has witnessed firsthand the situation in Ukraine, making it unnecessary to convince him of the theme's importance. He belongs to the select group of stars who wholeheartedly support causes they believe in and are ready to take action."

The worldwide premiere of the film anthology War Through the Eyes of Animals is planned for the winter of 2023-2024.