Night Zoo

Night Zoo
Night Zoo
	Film poster
	Un Zoo la nuit
Directed by	Jean-Claude Lauzon
Written by	Jean-Claude Lauzon
Produced by	Roger Frappier;
Starring	Gilles Maheu; ; Roger Lebel
Cinematography	Guy Dufaux
Edited by	Michel Arcand
Music by
Distributed by	(US theatrical)
Release date	May 1987 (Cannes);
Running time	115 minutes
Country	Canada
Language	French
Box office	1.3 million CAD

Night Zoo (French: Un Zoo la nuit) is a 1987 Canadian film. It is directed and written by Jean-Claude Lauzon. It made its debut at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival. The film was selected as the Canadian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 60th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.^[1]

It was also the most successful film in the history of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television's film awards program, winning a record 13 Genie Awards in every single category where it was nominated.^[2] The film garnered 14 nominations overall;^[3] the film's only nomination that failed to translate into a win was Gilles Maheu's nod for Best Actor, as he lost to the film's other Best Actor nominee, Roger Lebel.

Plot[]

Marcel (Gilles Maheu) is released from prison, hoping to reconcile with his dying father, Albert (Lebel). Marcel is also harassed by a corrupt gay cop. Marcel returns to his father who reveals that he has money and drugs stashed away for him. Marcel and his gay former cellmate both corner the corrupt cop and get their revenge on him. Julie (Adams) is Marcel's former girlfriend who works in a sex club peep show.

Awards[]

The film set a record by winning 13 Genie Awards.

Genie Award for Best Motion Picture - Roger Frappier, Pierre Gendron
Genie Award for Best Achievement in Art Direction/Production Design - Jean-Baptiste Tard
Genie Award for Best Achievement in Cinematography - Guy Dufaux
Genie Award for Best Achievement in Costume Design -
Genie Award for Best Achievement in Direction - Jean-Claude Lauzon
Genie Award for Best Achievement in Editing - Michel Arcand
Genie Award for Best Achievement in Overall Sound - Adrian Croll, Hans Peter Strobl, Yvon Benoît
Genie Award for Best Achievement in Sound Editing - Viateur Paiement, Marcel Pothier, Diane Boucher
Genie Award for Best Achievement in Music - Original Score -
Genie Award for Best Achievement in Music - Original Song - Jean-Pierre Bonin, Daniel DeShaime, , Robert Stanley For the song "Lost in a Hurricane"
Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role - Roger Lebel
Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role - Germain Houde
Genie Award for Best Original Screenplay - Jean-Claude Lauzon
Montreal World Film Festival Best Canadian Film - Jean-Claude Lauzon
Toronto International Film Festival International Critics' Award - Jean-Claude Lauzon
Grand Prix - Jean-Claude Lauzon

Nominations[]

Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role - Gilles Maheu

Availability[]

The film was released on videocassette in the United States in 1988 by New World and in Canada that same year by Cinema Plus Video. In 1991, an EP-Mode tape of the film was released by Starmaker Video. After Lauzon was killed in the northern Quebec plane crash in 1997, CBC Television, Télé-Québec and Showcase aired Night Zoo and Léolo in August.^[4] To this day, Night Zoo has never been released on DVD and as of June 28, 2011, no plans have been made to release the film onto DVD.

References[]

^ Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
^ "It was Un Zoo's night; Quebec film wins record 13 Genies". Montreal Gazette, March 23, 1988.
^ "Night Zoo thriller sets Genie record; Lauzon film wins 14 nominations". Ottawa Citizen, February 17, 1988.
^ Playback Staff, "Industry mourns Lauzon, Tougas," Playback, 25 August 1997, URL accessed 26 August 2016.

External links[]

Night Zoo at IMDb
Un Zoo la Nuit at AllMovie

[1] Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

[2] "It was Un Zoo's night; Quebec film wins record 13 Genies". Montreal Gazette, March 23, 1988.

[3] "Night Zoo thriller sets Genie record; Lauzon film wins 14 nominations". Ottawa Citizen, February 17, 1988.

[4] Playback Staff, "Industry mourns Lauzon, Tougas," Playback, 25 August 1997, URL accessed 26 August 2016.

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show v t Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television for Best Motion Picture
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