Theprogramme.

Shepherd Boy + All The World Is Green

From a dog surviving alone on the outskirts of Doha to a global investigation of the environmental costs of animal agriculture, Opening Night moves from one life at the margins to the systems reshaping the planet.

HEN

After escaping an industrial farm, a determined hen finds refuge in a crumbling Greek seaside restaurant. As she fights to protect her eggs, she becomes an unwitting witness to greed, people-smuggling and the moral failures of the humans around her. Pálfi’s darkly comic fable is told from its avian heroine’s perspective.

Kinship

Questioning whether his lifelong compassion for animals has made a difference, filmmaker Lucas Spiegel travels the world to meet people remaking humanity’s relationship with the rest of the animal kingdom. Looking for a little hope, he discovers the beginnings of a quiet revolution.

Shorts + filmmaker panel

Eight short films move through childhood morality, First Nations dingo knowledge, activism, conservation, displacement, motherhood and sanctuary — followed by a filmmaker conversation.

The Empathy Project + PORKAGANDA

The Empathy Project brings together people re-examining their relationships with animals. PORKAGANDA examines how industrial pig farming developed in Australia and its consequences for animals, communities and the environment, using interviews and Animal Liberation’s archives.

Liberation + Animal Justice

An animated rescue and an action-driven narrative feature close Saturday night with two radically different approaches to confronting violence against animals.

RESCUE

As Russia’s full-scale war forces millions to flee Ukraine, animal rescuers move in the opposite direction — towards destroyed villages, active shelling and mined roads. RESCUE documents extraordinary acts of courage and the often-overlooked stakes of saving animals during conflict.

Sentient

Veteran journalist Tony Jones enters the secretive world of laboratory animal research, following primatologist Dr Lisa Jones-Engel as she confronts the moral consequences of her former work. Combining rare access, testimony and undercover footage, Sentient asks whether harming animals — and the people who work with them — can still be justified in the name of science.

“A complex and thorough argument that is likely to fuel debate.”Amber Wilkinson · Screen International / Screen Daily

Momo Garden + The Birds Who Lived Home

Two films turn towards animals living through human-made catastrophe: cows surviving the aftermath of Fukushima, and a history of chickens that asks how we might face ecological crisis with greater attention, care and solidarity.

Bears in Hot Tubs + Forever HOME

Closing Night looks at two forms of home-making: black bears moving through suburban Los Angeles, and an animal refuge redesigning architecture around the needs of rescued farmed animals.