By STEVE MARTINDALE
For Salt Spring Film Festival Society
If you love animals and are concerned about the war in Ukraine, you won’t want to miss Us, Our Pets and the War, an award-winning documentary screening on Wednesday, Dec. 11, as part of the Salt Spring Film Festival’s ongoing Best of the Fests series at ArtSpring.
When the Russian bombardment of Ukraine began in early 2022, the massive exodus of refugees from the war zone was distinctly unlike any other humanitarian crisis. Involving not only an estimated 12 million displaced people, it was also the largest mobilization of animals in human history. As Ukrainians fled their homes, most of them refused to leave behind their beloved pets.
In the panic of war, however, not everyone was able to take their pets with them, and regrettably some animals were abandoned. Amidst the worst of circumstances, courageous fellow Ukrainians subsequently returned to the war zone and risked their lives under ongoing Russian bombardment to rescue animals left behind by those forced to flee.
From dogs and cats miraculously surviving in demolished buildings and abandoned shelters, to exotic wildlife helplessly stranded in the nation’s zoos, unbelievably complex rescue efforts were mounted to extract animals from the war zone and transport them to safety.
Some of the rescued animals unexpectedly became online celebrities, such as Patron the Jack Russell terrier – awarded the Order of Courage by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for his work locating unexploded landmines – and Anastasia Lunyova’s Persian cat Shafa, who became a national symbol of the Ukrainian spirit of resistance and resilience after being trapped for two months in a destroyed apartment block.
Inspiring the very best of the human spirit in the face of mortal danger, ordinary people do extraordinary things in this astonishing celebration of our bond with animals, co-presented by the Salt Spring Friends of Ukraine Committee and the Salt Spring BC SPCA.
Directed by Ukrainian YouTuber Anton Ptushkin, who has been barred from entering Russia for the next 50 years for speaking out against the Russian invasion, this uplifting and profoundly moving film won the Audience Choice Award at the Irish Film Institute Documentary Festival in September.
The Best of the Fests series continues in the New Year with three more films, including new documentaries about the much-loved Canadian band Blue Rodeo on Jan. 22 and the Fairy Creek anti-logging blockades on Feb. 19, as well as a provocative post-apocalyptic Canadian drama on Feb. 5, all at ArtSpring on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $14 each and are available online at artspring.ca; in advance by phone (250-537-2102) or in person when the box office is open (Tuesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.); or at the door starting an hour before each film.