?O, Zoo!: The Making of a Fiction Film

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?O, Zoo!: The Making of a Fiction Film
Directed by Philip Hoffman
Written byPhilip Hoffman
Produced byPhilip Hoffman
Music byTucker Zimmerman
Release date
  • 1986 (1986)
Running time
23 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

?O, Zoo!: The Making of a Fiction Film is a 1986 experimental Canadian documentary film directed by Philip Hoffman. [1]

Contents

Synopsis

Based in part around the making of Peter Greenaway's 1985 film A Zed & Two Noughts and constructed primarily from found footage made by his grandfather who onced worked as a newsreel cameraman, [2] the film interrogates the distinction between fiction and documentary filmmaking through various meditations on the narrative assumptions and inventions that people attach to the neutrality of visual images; its most noted scene narrates the death of an elephant, without ever actually showing the animal. [3]

Reception

The film premiered at the 1986 Festival of Festivals. [1] It received a Genie Award nomination for Best Feature Length Documentary at the 8th Genie Awards. [4]

It is also his most successful film to date. [5]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Robert Everett-Green, "Celluloid experiments". The Globe and Mail , September 6, 1986.
  2. Canyon Cinema
  3. Joel Rubinoff, "Avant-garde films challenge viewers". Toronto Star , March 13, 1987.
  4. Greg Quill, "Decline rises to top Genie nominations". Toronto Star , February 5, 1987.
  5. Wyndham Wyse, "Philip Hoffman". Take One's Essential Guide to Canadian Film. University of Toronto Press, 2001. ISBN   9780802083982. p. 100.