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You can stream Laika (2017) on DocAlliance Films with a subscription, or rent on DocAlliance Films.

Life is not easy for Laika, a dog on the outskirts of a big Russian city. She is caught and forcibly retrained to become a pioneer in astronautics. Soon after her lift-off into space, a number of animals follow that are hurriedly launched from Houston and Baikonur. The animals travel astray, but finally manage, with the help of a black hole, to colonize a faraway planet. After a short period of harmonious, undisturbed co-existence with indigenous life forms, however, first human cosmonaut run ashore on their planet, and their harmonious life, indeed their very survival, are suddenly in jeopardy.

A surreal, melancholic whimsy permeates this stop-motion journey through the lonely reaches of the cosmos. Straying far from the rigid confines of Soviet space programs, a band of displaced animals navigates the void with heartbreaking charm.

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