“Film Screening: Zoo” (Yale Film Archive)

Zoo (Frederick Wiseman, 1993, 16mm, 130 mins)

 

Wiseman spent 42 days filming in Miami’s zoo, revealing the routines and contradictions of captivity and care. While visitors and animals gaze at one another through bars, zookeepers juggle ethical, organizational, and research interests in an environment where human interventions mean life or death. This extraordinary documentary “moves beyond factual meaning to provoke an unsettling existential awareness” (Belinda Smaill). 16mm print from the Yale Film Archive.

 

Yale Film Archive’s Wisemania series is a multi-year exploration of the works of documentarian Frederick Wiseman.

 

Yale Film Archive screenings are always free and open to the public. See the full film schedule here.