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, 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.

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.