What if the truest witnesses to war can't speak — but their eyes say everything?
When Russia invaded in February 2022. Japanese director Akane Yamada travelled to the war zone to document an often-overlooked story - the fate of animals and the people who refuse to abandon them. Known for her work in disaster zones since Fukushima, Yamada witnessed animal welfare groups mobilising at the Polish border to help refugees and their pets, and followed Ukrainians who continued to adopt shelter animals amid the chaos. In Borodianka, near Kyiv, she uncovered the tragic deaths of shelter dogs left behind during occupation. Her three-year investigation led her deep into Ukraine's frontline regions, from flooded Kherson after the Kahkovka Dam's destruction to a children's hospital in Kyiv struck by a missile. 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.
Direction
Yamada's Fukushima-honed patience lets horror breathe without exploitation.
Cinematography
Dogs' eye-level framing reframes human warfare as bewildering absurdity.
Editing
Three years compressed into urgent, unflinching narrative coherence.
Director
Akane Yamada
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Yamada's Fukushima documentary background shapes her method: she returns to zones others abandon, treating prolonged presence as ethical obligation.
The film's Japanese release context matters — as the only country to experience nuclear war, Japan's audience brings unique fracture to images of civilian infrastructure destruction.
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