About The Film

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The real-life story of a working wife and mother—ortrayed by two-time Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain and based on the best-selling book by Diane Ackerman—who became a hero to hundreds during World War II. In 1939 Poland, the Warsaw Zoo is flourishing under the stewardship and care of Antonina Żabiński and her husband, Dr. Jan Żabiński (Johan Heldenbergh, a European Film Award nominee for the Academy Award-nominated THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN). When their country is invaded by Nazis and the zoo bombed, the stunned couple is forced to report to the Reich's newly appointed chief zoologist (played by Golden Globe Award nominee Daniel Brühl of CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR). To fight back, the Żabińskis covertly work with the Resistance and put into action plans to save those living in the Warsaw Ghetto. The zookeeper’s wife, Antonina, puts herself and even her children at great risk.

Directors Bio

Nikola Jean "Niki" Caro is a film director, producer and screenwriter who was born in Wellington, New Zealand. Her 2002 film WHALE RIDER was critically praised and won a number of awards at international film festivals, including an Independent Spirit Award (2004) for Best Foreign Film. 

 Sponsors:

• Sharon Gantz Bloome
• Community Partners: Consulate of the Republic of Poland in Seattle, Ellison Center for Russian East European and Central Asian Studies,  Holocaust Center for Humanity, Seattle Hadassah, UW Polish Studies Endowment Committee