Den of Geek got an exclusive first look at the new documentary, and it's incredibly intriguing. With an unusual synopsis and a cohesive, surreal visual style, «American Zoo» could very well be a surprise hit at New York's Tribeca Film Festival. Watch it below:
В in the film "American Zoo"« tells the story of two families—the Lindemanns and the Hecks—and their ownership of the now-abandoned Catskill Game Farm, the first private zoo in America. While it may sound more like the film "We Bought a Zoo", Rather than a true Lynchian story, things get much more interesting. Both families behind Catskill Game Farm sought to revive primordial animals, driven by Nazi-influenced ideologies about nature and human impact on it.
Director Tim Travers Hawkins, creator of such documentaries as «XY Chelsea» и «"Catching the Killer Nurse"» , presents the film «American Zoo, which reveals previously unknown episodes from the life of the Catskill Zoo, shedding light on the sinister events taking place just meters away from families spending time together.
Promotional stills from the film feature children riding alpacas, well-dressed visitors posing with monkeys, and long lines waiting to pass beneath the "Catskill Game Farm: Fun for the Whole Family" sign between two large wooden giraffe figures. These are all vintage stills and photographs that evoke nostalgia for the roadside attractions you begged your parents to stop by during a 14-hour drive to Florida.
However, there's also an ominous sense of unease that makes you wonder for a moment what's really going on in the Catskills and who's running it. One shot, in particular, shows a group of men and a woman posing for a photograph, apparently on some kind of safari, with two of the men holding enormous hunting rifles. Another shot shows a man in a bolo hat, shirt, and tie feeding a rhino through thick steel bars, while the animal watches indifferently from its filthy, dilapidated enclosure.
Each image combines a sweet nostalgia for American culture with a bittersweet aftertaste of discomfort from the perceived and romanticized. Hawkins has worked hard to connect the secret history with a strikingly familiar visual style, pushing this bitter aftertaste of discomfort to its limits.
However, in the end, «American Zoo» — is more than just a story about the Catskills. It spans the globe, seeking out former zoo employees and descendants of the Lindemanns and Hecks willing to share their families' absurd histories, tracing the history of fascist zoology back through several generations.
The Catskill Game Farm operated for 73 years, welcoming millions of visitors unfamiliar with the actions of its owners throughout its existence. Hawkins takes great pains not to blame unsuspecting visitors who developed a strong attachment to the Catskills early on, but he also doesn't back down in the face of abhorrent behavior. The fairytale atmosphere of the photographs of young families and children, combined with their hidden, eerie aura, is visible only to onlookers. «American Zoo» , is proof of this.