“Unprecedented” seems to be the word of the year ever since the COVID-19 pandemic. The word, a neutral adjective that could be used to describe any type of novel event, has mostly been used with a negative connotation over the past five years. Yet despite the vast number of (negative) unprecedented happenings at home and around the globe, people have also showcased unprecedented amounts of resilience, bravery, and strength. Such is the case with Ukrainian citizens facing their third year of full-scale invasion.
Amid the shellings, broken cities, and heroic and horrific stories of human love and loss, documentary film director Joshua Zeman noticed something perhaps even more shocking than war: the image of a solitary chimpanzee wandering through Freedom Square, Kharkiv. The chimpanzee, presumably, escaped its enclosure in Feldman Ecopark, a zoo situated directly between the advancing Russian front and the defending Ukrainian army.
This image of the solitary chimpanzee led Zeman to create the documentary “Checkpoint Zoo,” a film about the true, daring, unprecedented rescue mission led by zookeepers and volunteers to save thousands of animals trapped in Feldman Ecopark.
“Checkpoint Zoo” first premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2024, and now it is appearing in Newport through the efforts of newportFILM. “We at newportFILM curate the newest, most impactful documentaries,” says Cathleen Carr, executive director of the organization. “We keep an ongoing list of the best documentaries screened at festivals and try to find the right time to showcase the work.” “Checkpoint Zoo,” shot between 2022 and 2023, is particularly contemporary and reflects the “urgent time we are living in,” she says.
Zeman “comes from a true-crime background,” Carr notes. “He brings an urgency in his filmmaking that makes every moment feel very fast-paced and tense.” Beyond the choices of an acclaimed auteur, tension and stress is quite literally the basis of the real-life story Zeman puts to screen; volunteers and zookeepers face down Russian guns and ballistics on one side of the road, and within the zoo, they face the jaws and claws of scared and trapped animal predators.
Amid the credits of this documentary, sharp eyes might spot a familiar name: Nelson Hume, director of cinematography. Hume was a resident mentor of newportFILM’s inaugural documentary cinematography lab in 2019, and his work on this piece makes the screening feel more special and closer to home.
“Checkpoint Zoo” will be screened Thursday, April 10, at 7 p.m. at the Newport Classical Recital Hall. NewportFILM has partnered with 401 Food Shack for bites, so viewers do not have to go hungry during the screening. Carr recommends that interested parties buy tickets ahead of time to ensure a seat will be available, but last-minute tickets will be for sale at the door.
The documentary is not available for viewing anywhere, so this one-night-only specialty screening in Rhode Island is truly unique. And, if the concept of a contemporary war documentary seems too hard to handle, Carr promises that the documentary “taps into what we’re all longing. For – that collective spirit of can do that takes bravery, but can be so uplifting.”
