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A scene from "The Ark" which screens as part of the Hamptons Doc Fest on December 10. VIACHESLAV RAKOVSKYI
Zhenye and Anatoliy Pilipenko moved to their new home in rural Eastern Ukraine in December 2021 seeking a quiet life away from the city. Caring for more than hundreds of animals wasn’t a part of this plan.
The story of how the Pilipenko family took in over 800 animals after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine War in 2022 is told in the 2025 documentary film “The Ark.” Directed by Jeremy Chilnick and Viaeslav Rakovskyi, the film will be screened as part of the 2025 Hamptons Doc Fest on Wednesday, December 10, at 5:30 p.m. at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor.
When war broke out in February 2022, a friend of the Pilipenkos called to see if he could look after his goats while he served on the front lines. After taking in his 37 goats word spread, and soldiers, refugees and animal protection organizations began bringing animals to their house outside of Dnipro. What started as a tranquil escape became a bustling place — home to cows, dogs, donkeys, horses, birds and even a bear. “The Ark” provides a close-up look at the Pilipenkos as they navigate caring for these animals as the battle lines loom closer.
The film came to life when Rakovskyi, a Ukrainian filmmaker, presented the idea to Chilnick, with whom he had worked on a previous project. Chilnick had told Rakovskyi that “If you can find a really good story, we’re filmmakers at the end of the day, just bring it to me and we’ll figure out how to get it made” while Rakovskyi was stuck in his war-torn country. When Chilnick heard about the Pilipenkos, he was blown away and thought it was “too incredible to actually be true.”
Rakovskyi went to their home to film in late 2022 and early 2023 before sending it over to Chilnick, who oversaw the editing of the project. Even though he was thousands of miles away, he was struck by the scope of the operation the Pilipenkos were running, with animals sprawling out in every direction.
As he combed through the footage, Chilnick quickly saw the theme of perseverance in the face of uncertainty emerge as he watched the Pilipenkos face challenges in their newfound life and push through them.
“You have these two people who make a really, really incredible decision,” he said. “But it’s about what you can build even in the most terrible circumstances. That even as everything is crashing around you, you can still figure out a way to keep moving forward, and not just move forward but really build something, and that really stayed with me.”
Though the war looms heavy over the film, Chilnick wanted to make the lives of the Pilipenkos the focus, documenting everyday actions like conversations with their children and the growth they have undergone.
“You look for what’s giving you the most emotion from the actual characters versus what are the actual events that may or may not be happening,” he explained. “For me at least, I react to characters, I react to people, that’s what makes me feel empathy in a story. And that’s what ultimately we wanted to shoot and develop the story around.”
Chilnick was particularly drawn to Anatoliy Pilipenko, a common man who even in the midst of taking care of animals still began selling cheese, which was his original goal when they moved. Chilnick noted that in Anatoly “there was so much life and levity and such a big personality that I was really excited by” that he wanted to convey it in the film.
Filming during a war that didn’t seem to be slowing down raised the question of when to stop filming, which is a key question in verité storytelling since life goes on after the cameras stop rolling.
“From Viaeslav’s perspective, he’s shooting but he’s also going into bomb shelters at night because Kyiv is under attack,” Chilnick explained. “You always have this existential feeling of ‘What if this happens, what does that do to the story? If we stop now and something else happens two months on, is the story still relevant?’”
Now, as the film debuts and the war continues in Ukraine, Chilnick said he believes that the story of the Pilipenkos will be relevant and moving at any time.
“I think what they did in this time period, what they accomplished and what they built is inspiring today,” he said. “And I think it’s going to be inspiring in two years, five years or whenever you end up discovering it.”
“The Ark” will be shown at the Hamptons Doc Fest at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, December 10, at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor. A Q&A session with Chilnick and producers Tony Castle and Roxy Hunt will follow the screening. Tickets are $17 and can be purchased at hamptonsdocfest.com. Bay Street Theater is on Long Wharf in Sag Harbor.
