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Bestiaire

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Bestiaire
Film poster
Directed byDenis Côté
Written byDenis Côté
Produced bySylvain Corbeil
Denis Côté
CinematographyVincent Biron
Edited byNicolas Roy
Production
companies
Distributed byFunFilm [fr]
Release date
  • January 22, 2012 (2012-01-22) (Sundance)
Running time
72 minutes
CountriesCanada
France
LanguageNo dialogue

Bestiaire is a 2012 Canadian-French experimental docufiction film written and directed by Denis Côté. Filmed at Parc Safari in Quebec, the film examines human and animal observation without dialogue. It had its world premiere at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for Best Documentary Film at the 15th Jutra Awards.

Synopsis

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The film observes animals, staff and visitors at Parc Safari in Quebec. It uses fixed-camera images of animal enclosures, visitor areas and work behind the scenes, including a section involving taxidermy. The film focuses on acts of looking and interpretation rather than on conventional narration.[1][2]

Production

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The film was produced by Metafilms, nihilproductions and Le Fresnoy, and had a budget of a few thousand dollars.[3] It was filmed at Parc Safari in Hemmingford, Quebec.[1][2] The film has no dialogue.[3]

Release

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The film had its world premiere at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.[3] It had its European premiere in the Forum section of the 2012 Berlin International Film Festival.[4]

The film was released theatrically on April 6, 2012.[3] It also opened in a single theatre in Paris.[5] FunFilm Distribution handled distribution, and the film has been available on DVD since December 4, 2012.[3]

Reception

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Critical response

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Peter Debruge of Variety described the film as a "brief yet slow-building visual essay" built from "artfully framed, static-camera compositions". He wrote that the film examined how humans study animals, but found its scope limited by its focus on a single facility.[2]

Mark Olsen of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film had "a meditative calm" and found it "remarkable and engaging" as an opportunity to observe animals at close range. He praised Côté’s visual approach, noting that the fixed camera was paired with "masterful" compositions.[6]

Michał Oleszczyk of Slant Magazine wrote that the film had a "wordless, unlovely splendor" and argued that the film avoided anthropomorphizing its animal subjects, instead using the zoo setting to examine the human gaze directed at nature.[7]

Awards and nominations

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The film was nominated for Best Documentary Film at the 15th Jutra Awards.[8] It was also a finalist for the Toronto Film Critics Association's Rogers Best Canadian Film Award.[9][10]

References

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  1. ^ a b Stander, Sam (October 18, 2012). "In 'Bestiare,' A Glimpse Into The Nature Of Looking". NPR. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c Debruge, Peter (28 January 2012). "Bestiaire". Variety. Retrieved 15 May 2026.
  3. ^ a b c d e Ramond, Charles-Henri (March 6, 2012). "Bestiaire – Film de Denis Côté" [Bestiary – Film by Denis Côté]. Films du Québec. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
  4. ^ Demers, Maxime (February 9, 2012). "Denis Côté s'éclate au zoo". Le Journal de Montréal. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
  5. ^ Ramond, Charles-Henri (February 27, 2013). "Bestiaire de Denis Côté sort en salles à Paris" [Bestiary by Denis Côté hits theaters in Paris] (in French). Films du Québec. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
  6. ^ Olsen, Mark (20 February 2013). "Sit with the animals in the charming 'Bestiaire'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 15 May 2026.
  7. ^ Oleszczyk, Michael (January 24, 2012). "Sundance Film Festival 2012: Denis Côté's Bestiaire". Slant Magazine.
  8. ^ "Spotlight shines on Quebec cinema at the Jutra awards". CBC News Montreal, March 17, 2013. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
  9. ^ Barnard, Linda (December 18, 2012). "The Master scores a movie hat trick with Toronto critics". Toronto Star. Retrieved November 14, 2023 – via PressReader.
  10. ^ "Toronto Film Critics Association announces 2012 awards". Toronto Film Critics Association. 18 December 2012. Retrieved 15 May 2026.
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