Synopsis

TWO NIGHTS ONLY! In the predawn hours of July 2, 2005, a dying man was dropped off at a rural emergency room in the Pacific Northwest. A surveillance camera captured the license plate of the car that deposited the man at the hospital. This led detectives to a nearby horse farm, where they found hundreds of hours of videotape of men from all over the world having sex with Arabian stallions. The man’s cause of death was a perforated colon.

To begin with, ZOO is neither graphic nor exploitive. Most of it takes the form of recreations, but from the point of view of the men “who met for years without disturbance in the shadows of Mt. Rainier,” as Devor puts it. He cleverly captures the essence of these men and their alienation by creating a visual poetry. Although this incident made headlines and the tabloid news, ZOO is the complete antithesis of what you expect. Robinson Devor’s filmmaking is as smart as it is eloquent.

The cinematic language invented for the film permits us to examine where we draw the line, how much perversity we can tolerate in others. In a broader sense, ZOO is really about thresholds. What can we stand to know, and, more importantly, what can we stand to accept? ZOO was one of 16 out of 856 documentaries submitted to be awarded a place in the Sundance Film Festival. It was also selected as one of the top five American films to be presented at the “prestigious” Directors Fortnight sidebar at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. TWO NIGHTS ONLY!

Film Information

• Genre: Documentary
• Director: Robinson Devor
• Written By: Robinson Devor , Charles Mudede
• Starring: John Paulsen, Ken Kreps, Richard Carmen, James Chu, Paul Eenhoorn, Forest Fousel, Conor Gormally, and Malayka Gormally
• Running Time: 80 minutes, approx.
• MPAA Rating: Not Rated
• Language: English
• Official Site

Reviews

"Bold and unforgettable meditation on a truly bizarre incident that pokes at the very heart of one of our culture's biggest taboos."

   - Ken Fox, TV Guide

"A breathtakingly original nonfiction work by Seattle-based filmmaker Robinson Devor (whose "Police Beat" was among the highlights of Sundance's 2005 dramatic competition)."

   - Scott Foundas, Variety

"The beautiful and beguiling new film by Robinson Devor meditates on the Enumclaw incident through a hypnotic blend of original reporting, staged reenactment, testimony of involved parties (both zoophiles and local law enforcement), and pervasive, somewhat precious lyricism."

   - Nathan Lee, Village Voice

"The result is an immersive experience that never forgets the basic facts of the story but attempts with a level head and open mind to understand how in the world it might happen."

   - Shawn Levy, Portland Oregonian

"Whether meaning to or not, Devor and his accomplished crew expand our concept of the documentary film, which relegates this documentary to art houses, not porn theaters."

   - Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter

Showtimes

• Tuesday, July 17th
  7:15 pm
• Wednesday, July 18th
  5:00 pm