Free Friday Harbor Film Fest Best of the Fest Documentary series starts

||| FROM ELLEN ROBERTS for FRIDAY HARBOR FILM FESTIVAL |||

Join us for a powerful evening of documentary film and conversation! Friday Harbor Film Festival’s 2026 Best of the Fest Series kicks off with a free double feature screening of Checkpoint Zoo, winner of the 2025 FHFF Audience Choice Award for Best Overall Documentary, and Lina, winner of the 2025 FHFF Audience Choice Award for Best Overall Short Film, showing on both San Juan and Lopez islands.

Come to the SJI Library on Friday, January 30 at a SPECIAL START TIME – 6 pm – for a meet and greet with Lina filmmaker Silke Johnstone. The films begin at 6:30 pm. Immediately following the screening, Checkpoint Zoo director
Joshua Zeman will lead an interactive Q&A. Don’t miss the chance to learn more about the filmmaking process, the real-life events that inspired the films, and the situation in Ukraine. Details are available at fhff.org.

On Saturday, January 31 join us at the Lopez Island Grange at 7 pm to view the films followed by a pre-recorded
interview with Checkpoint Zoo director Joshua Zeman.

January’s Program: Checkpoint Zoo and Lina
Checkpoint Zoo documents a daring rescue, led by a heroic team of zookeepers and volunteers, who risked their lives
to save thousands of animals trapped in a zoo behind enemy lines in the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. In the early
days of the Russian Ukrainian war Kharkiv, the country’s second largest city, was turned into a warzone. On one side
of the battlefield was the invading Russian army, on the other side, the defending Ukrainians, and caught in between
them, was a zoo called Feldman Ecopark. More than just a zoo, Feldman Ecopark was an animal sanctuary that
offered countless therapy programs to everyone from soldiers with PTSD to children with special needs. Drawing
from first-hand footage, Award-winning filmmaker Joshua Zeman’s Checkpoint Zoo showcases a story of human
compassion, bravery, and sacrifice during Ukraine’s darkest hours. shining a light on the best of humanity when it is
all too easy to focus on the worst. 

Lina – With a warm, strong and confident voice forty-one-year-old mother Alyona tells the story of her beautiful
youngest daughter Lina who together with her family flees the brutal grip of Russian occupation in Kherson. With the
help of courageous volunteers, the family travels thousands of miles through hostile Russian territory before finally
finding refuge and the idea of peace in a charming village in Ukraine. Yet, the sense of normalcy is deceiving, and the
audience witnesses the cruel scars that this war has left on Lina and the emotional breakdown of Alyona as she is
confronted with the reality that Lina faces.

The Best of the Fest Series Schedule
Each month through September Best of the Fest presents award-winning documentaries along with Q&As with the films’ directors and subjects. Programs begin at 7 pm. All Friday Harbor programs will be at the San Juan Island
Library. Lopez Island programs will be at the Lopez Island Grange, Lopez Center for Community and the Arts, or at the Lopez Island Library. Since they’re on Fridays, they are a great “date night” activity. Here’s the schedule:

• Girl Climber – February 20 at the SJI Library and February 21 at the Lopez Island Grange
• The Ramba Effect – March 27 at the SJI Library and the Lopez Center for Community and the Arts
• Sitka’s Hidden Wonders + From Sea to Shining Sea – April 24 at the SJI Library and the Lopez Center for Community and the Arts
• The Last Dive – May 22 at the SJI Library and the Lopez Center for Community and the Arts
• Parrot Kindergarten – June 26 at the SJI Library and the Lopez Center for Community and the Arts
• The Snake and the Whale – July 17 at the SJI Library and the Lopez Island Library
• Champions of the Golden Valley – August 21 at the SJI Library and the Lopez Island Library
• Rebel with a Clause – September 18 at the SJI Library and the Lopez Island Library

Details about the films in the series are available on the fhff.org website. FHFF appreciates the sponsorship of The Journal of the San Juan Islands! Mark your calendar and plan to view the exceptional Best of the Fest documentaries.