Night Zoo

Night Zoo
Night Zoo
	Film poster
French	Un Zoo la nuit
Directed by	Jean-Claude Lauzon
Written by	Jean-Claude Lauzon
Produced by	Roger Frappier; Pierre Gendron
Starring	Gilles Maheu; Lynne Adams; Roger Lebel
Cinematography	Guy Dufaux
Edited by	Michel Arcand
Music by	Jean Corriveau
Distributed by	FilmDallas (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 after completing a two year sentence for narcotics crime, hoping to reconcile with his dying father, Albert (Roger Lebel), who seems to believe his son has been away on a vacation. His former girlfriend Julie (Lynne Adams) is now working in a sex club peep show. When he returns home, he is soon visited by a pair of dishonest police detectives who demand $200,000 in cash that they believe he still possesses from his earlier activity. One of the detectives, George (Lorne Brass) is a homosexual steeped in sadism, who frequently uses violence to attempt to break him. Amidst the threats he navigates, Marcel and Albert repair their relationship, culminating in an after hours break-in at a local zoo.

Reception

Box office

The film grossed $1 million in Quebec within three months of its release.^[4]

Awards

The film won the most Genie Awards in history, with thirteen awards.^[4] Gilles Maheu and Roger Lebel were both nominated for best actor.^[5]^[6]

In 1987, the film won the Grand Prix for Best Film at Film Fest Gent.

Accolades

Award	Date of ceremony	Category	Recipient(s)	Result	Ref.
Genie Awards	22 March 1988	Best Picture	Roger Frappier, Pierre Gendron	Won	^[5]
		Best Director	Jean-Claude Lauzon	Won
		Best Screenplay	Jean-Claude Lauzon	Won
		Best Actor	Roger Lebel	Won
		Best Actor	Gilles Maheu	Nominated	^[6]
		Best Supporting Actor	Germain Houde	Won	^[5]
		Best Art Direction or Production Design	Jean-Baptiste Tard	Won
		Best Cinematography	Guy Dufaux	Won
		Best Costume Design	Andrée Morin	Won
		Best Editing	Michel Arcand	Won
		Best Overall Sound	Adrian Croll Hans Peter Strobl Yvon Benoît	Won
		Best Sound Editing	Viateur Paiement Marcel Pothier Diane Boucher	Won
		Best Music Score	Jean Corriveau	Won
		Best Original Song	Jean-Pierre Bonin Daniel De Shaimes Jean Corriveau Robert Stanley	Won

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.^[7] 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. It was digitized and restored in May 2013 by Éléphant and is available for online rental on the iTunes Store.

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.
^ ^a ^b Melnyk 2004, p. 201-202.
^ ^a ^b ^c "All The Genie Winners". Vancouver Sun. 23 March 1988. p. F5. Archived from the original on 19 December 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ ^a ^b "Quebec's brutal Night Zoo thriller wins 13 awards but glory fades 'if all Canada can't see our films'". Times Colonist. 23 March 1988. p. B11. Archived from the original on 19 December 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Playback Staff, "Industry mourns Lauzon, Tougas," Playback, 25 August 1997, URL accessed 26 August 2016.

Works cited

Melnyk, George (2004). One Hundred Years of Canadian Cinema. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 080203568X.

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.

[FOOTNOTEMelnyk2004201-202-4] Melnyk 2004, p. 201-202.

[genie-5] "All The Genie Winners". Vancouver Sun. 23 March 1988. p. F5. Archived from the original on 19 December 2023 – via Newspapers.com.

[genie2-6] "Quebec's brutal Night Zoo thriller wins 13 awards but glory fades 'if all Canada can't see our films'". Times Colonist. 23 March 1988. p. B11. Archived from the original on 19 December 2023 – via Newspapers.com.

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

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v t e Canadian Screen Award for Best Motion Picture
Canadian Film Awards 1949–1975: Film of the Year	The Loon's Necklace (1949) Newfoundland Scene (1952) Tit-Coq (1953) The Seasons (1954) The Stratford Adventure (1955) City of Gold (1958) Universe (1961) Lonely Boy (1963) Pour la suite du monde (1964) The Mills of the Gods: Viet Nam (1966) Warrendale (1967) A Place to Stand (1968) The Best Damn Fiddler from Calabogie to Kaladar (1969) To See or Not to See (1970) The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974) Les Ordres (1975)
Canadian Film Awards 1964–1978: Feature Film	À tout prendre (1964) The Luck of Ginger Coffey (1965) Astataïon, ou Le Festin des morts (1966) Warrendale (1967) The Ernie Game (1968) No Award (1969) Goin' Down the Road (1970) Mon oncle Antoine (1971) Wedding in White (1972) Slipstream (1973) No Award (1974) Les Ordres (1975) Lies My Father Told Me (1976) J.A. Martin photographe (1977) The Silent Partner (1978)
Genie Awards 1980–2011	The Changeling (1980) Les Bons débarras (1981) Ticket to Heaven (1982) The Grey Fox (1983) The Terry Fox Story (1984) The Bay Boy (1985) My American Cousin (1986) Le Déclin de l'empire américain (1987) Un Zoo la nuit (1988) Dead Ringers (1989) Jésus de Montréal (1990) Black Robe (1991) Naked Lunch (1992) Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (1993) Exotica (1994) Le Confessionnal (1995) Lilies (1996) The Sweet Hereafter (1997) The Red Violin (1998) Sunshine (1999) Maelström (2000) Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (2001) Ararat (2002) Les Invasions barbares (2003) Les Triplettes de Belleville (2004) C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005) Bon Cop, Bad Cop (2006) Away from Her (2007) Passchendaele (2008) Polytechnique (2009) Incendies (2010) Monsieur Lazhar (2011)
Canadian Screen Awards 2012–present	Rebelle (2012) Gabrielle (2013) Mommy (2014) Room (2015) Juste la fin du monde (2016) Maudie (2017) Une colonie (2018) Antigone (2019) Beans (2020) Scarborough (2021) Brother (2022) BlackBerry (2023)