EXCLUSIVE: Emmy-winning actress Kyra Sedgwick is taking on the role of narrator for the documentary The Ark, set to hold its world premiere Saturda
EXCLUSIVE: Emmy-winning actress Kyra Sedgwick is taking on the role of narrator for the documentary The Ark, set to hold its world premiere Saturday at the Woodstock Film Festival in New York.
The film, from BFD Productions and Believe Entertainment Group, follows a rural Ukrainian family whose home becomes “an improbable sanctuary for over 1,000 animals” abandoned by the war. Sedgwick will also serve as an executive producer on the feature directed by Jeremy Chilnick and Viacheslav Rakovskyi.
We have your first look at the film in the exclusive clip below.
“Zhenye and Anatoliy Pilipenko’s dream of a quiet place in the country is shattered overnight when Russia invades Ukraine,” notes a synopsis. “As rockets fall and fires rage, they face an impossible choice: flee the violence or stay and protect their home. When a soldier on his way to the frontline asks the couple if they can care for his goats – all 37 of them – while he fights in the trenches; their home transforms into the largest animal sanctuary in Eastern Ukraine.”
The synopsis continues, “From rescued chickens, displaced donkeys, wandering horses and even emus, Anatoliy and Zhenye risk their lives and livelihoods to rescue any part of Ukraine they can. Told primarily through verité, amidst constant danger, heartbreaking loss and improbably an inextinguishable reservoir of hope, Zhenye and Anatoliy’s sanctuary stands as a defiant testament to the unbreakable bond between a nation, its people, and the land they refuse to surrender.”
The film is produced by Tony Castle, Roxy Hunt, Olena Morentsova, Jeremy Chilnick, and Viacheslav Rakovskyi. Along with Sedgwick, executive producers include Brian Hunt, Dan Goodman, William H. Masterson III, and Jay Ruderman.
Sedgwick’s acting, producing and directing credits number in the many of dozens, among them Born on the Fourth of July, Mr. & Mrs. Bridge, Something To Talk About, Phenomenon, Carolina Caroline — which just premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, and of course, the starring role in long-running series The Closer, which won her an Emmy.
“Kyra’s creative instincts and boundless empathy have elevated our film in ways we never could have expected,” co-director Jeremy Chilnick said in a statement. “It’s been truly thrilling to have such a collaborative partner who understands just how intertwined humanity and nature are, particularly in such extraordinary times.”
The Ark is an acquisition title. Amy Beecroft of VERVE is representing the film for domestic sales.
Woodstock Film Festival
“For all the news reports of life in Ukraine under the terror of Russia’s invasion, rarely has such an unusual story of defiance, courage and patriotism emerged,” Peter Wortmann writes in the Woodstock Film Festival program. “When asked why they risked their lives to create the refuge, Anatoly had a simple answer, ‘the animals were Ukrainians, no more or less than all the people of their land.’”
Woodstock Film Festival opened on Wednesday and closes this Sunday.
Watch a clip from The Ark below, narrated by Kyra Sedgwick.
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