''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 40th Cannes Film Festival was held from 7 to 19 May 1987 in film, 1987. The Palme d'Or went to the ''Under the Sun of Satan (film), Sous le soleil de Satan'' by Maurice Pialat, a choice which was considered "highly controversial" and the prize ...

. The film was selected as the Canadian entry for the

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

at the 60th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee. 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. The film garnered 14 nominations overall; the film's only nomination that failed to translate into a win was

Gilles Maheu Gilles Maheu (born 1948 in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadians, Canadian actor, playwright and director from Quebec.

's nod for Best Actor, as he lost to the film's other Best Actor nominee,

Roger Lebel Roger Lebel (June 5, 1923 – June 18, 1994) was a Canadian actor. Career Label was born in Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec, Canada. A Québécois character actor, Roger Lebel began his career on stage and in radio. He started to show up movies in the ...

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 A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalat ...

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

The film grossed $1 million in Quebec within three months of its release. The film won the most Genie Awards in history, with thirteen awards.

Awards

The film set a record by winning 13

Genie Award The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for scu ...

s. * Genie Award for Best Motion Picture - Roger Frappier, Pierre Gendron * Genie Award for Best Achievement in Art Direction/Production Design -

Jean-Baptiste Tard Jean-Baptiste Tard is a Canadian production designer, art director and set decorator The set decorator is the head of the set decoration department in the film and television industry, responsible for selecting, designing, fabricating, and sourcin ...

Genie Award for Best Achievement in Cinematography The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television presents an annual award for Best Achievement in Cinematography, to honour the best Canadian film cinematography. The award was first presented in 1963 as part of the Canadian Film Awards, with separate ...

- Guy Dufaux *

Genie Award for Best Achievement in Costume Design The Canadian Screen Award for Best Costume Design is awarded by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best Canadian costume designer. It was formerly called the Genie Award for Best Achievement in Costume Design before the Genies wer ...

Andrée Morin Andrée or Andree may refer to: People * Andrée (given name) * Andree (surname) Places * Andree, Minnesota, unincorporated community in Stanchfield Township, Isanti County, Minnesota * 1296 Andrée, asteroid * Andrée Land (Svalbard) * Andrée La ...

* Genie Award for Best Achievement in Direction - Jean-Claude Lauzon *

Genie Award for Best Achievement in Editing Jinn ( ar, , ') – also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies (with the broader meaning of spirit or demon, depending on sources) – are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabian religious systems and later in Islamic myt ...

Michel Arcand Michel Arcand is a Canadian film editor. Born in Val-d'Or, Quebec, Arcand has won three Genie Awards for Best Achievement in Editing for the films '' The Rocket'', ''Léolo'' and ''Night Zoo (Un zoo la nuit)'' and five nominations in the same c ...

Genie Award for Best Achievement in Overall Sound The Canadian Screen Award for Best Achievement in Sound Mixing is awarded by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best work by a sound designer in a Canadian film. Formerly known as Best Overall Sound, it was renamed to Best Sound Mi ...

- Adrian Croll, Hans Peter Strobl, Yvon Benoît *

Genie Award for Best Achievement in Sound Editing The Canadian Screen Award for Best Achievement in Sound Editing is awarded by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best sound editor on a Canadian film. The award was first presented in 1970 as part of the Canadian Film Awards, befo ...

- Viateur Paiement, Marcel Pothier, Diane Boucher *

Genie Award for Best Achievement in Music - Original Score An annual award for Best Achievement in Music - Original Score is presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best Canadian original score for the previous year. Prior to 2012, the award was presented as part of the Genie Awa ...

- Jean Corriveau *

Genie Award for Best Achievement in Music - Original Song The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television presents an annual award for Best Achievement in Music: Original Song to the best original song in a Canadian motion picture. First presented at the 3rd Genie Awards in 1982, the award was presented as ...

- Jean-Pierre Bonin,

Daniel DeShaime Daniel DeShaime, born Jean-Marie Deschênes on 2 August 1946 in Saint-Octave-de-l'Avenir, Quebec is a French-speaking Canadian singer. Biography Daniel DeShaime was born in Saint-Octave-de-l'Avenir, a village founded in 1932 near the Chic-Cho ...

, Jean Corriveau, Robert Stanley For the song "Lost in a Hurricane" *

Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television presents an annual award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role to the best performance by a lead actor in a Canadian film.Maria Topalovich, ''And the Genie Goes To...: Celebrating 50 Years o ...

* Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role - Germain Houde *

Genie Award for Best Original Screenplay The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television presents one or more annual awards for the Best Screenplay for a Canadian film. Originally presented in 1968 as part of the Canadian Film Awards, from 1980 until 2012 the award continued as part of the Gen ...

- Jean-Claude Lauzon * Montreal World Film Festival Best Canadian Film - Jean-Claude Lauzon * Toronto International Film Festival International Critics' Award - Jean-Claude Lauzon * Flanders International Film Festival Grand Prix - Jean-Claude Lauzon

Nominations

- 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 CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

, Télé-Québec and Showcase aired ''Night Zoo'' and '' Léolo'' in August.Playback Staff,
Industry mourns Lauzon, Tougas
" ''

Playback Playback or Play Back may refer to: Film * ''Playback'' (1962 film), a British film in the ''Edgar Wallace Mysteries'' series * ''Playback'', a 1996 film starring Shannon Whirry * ''Playback'' (2012 film), an American horror film by Michael A. N ...

'', 25 August 1997, URL accessed 26 August 2016. 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

Works cited

External links

* * {{Canadian submission for Academy Awards 1987 films 1980s crime drama films Canadian LGBT-related films LGBT-related drama films 1987 LGBT-related films Best Picture Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners Films shot in Montreal Films set in Montreal Films directed by Jean-Claude Lauzon Canadian crime drama films 1987 drama films French-language Canadian films 1980s Canadian films