Laika

StoryFutures Academy worked with Oscar and BAFTA winning film-maker Asif Kapadia to produce Laika, a Virtual Reality animation giving audiences the chance to be immersed in the moving and tragic real life story of the first dog in space. The 15 minute short VR experience featured the voices of Sophie Okonedo and Tobias Menzies and was created as a collaboration between Passion Pictures and SheepThief. It was funded by SFA, BFI, Film 4 and supported by Epic Games. It received its premiere at the BFI London Film Festival in 2021 as part of LFF Expanded.

Animated VR experience

Directed by the Academy Award and BAFTA-winning Asif Kapadia (Senna, Amy, Diego Maradona), Laika is a VR short film adapted from Nick Abadzis’ 2007 graphic novel of the same name. Through the medium of animated VR this story, co-written by Asif Kapadia and Nick Abadzis, takes viewers on Laika’s heartbreakingly beautiful journey, fully immersing the audience in Laika’s point of view, to see for themselves how a small dog played such a pivotal part in modern history.
Laika is a Passion Pictures and Sheep Thief Films Production, in partnership with StoryFutures.

Laika Trailer

Companies

Sheep Thief Films
Passion Pictures

Partners

StoryFutures, BFI Film Fund (awarding National Lottery funding), Film4, Epic Games