Zoo

There's a great jazz soundtrack to this observational documentary set in a zoo. People milling around watching the animals that are in turn watching them. People knit, they draw, they chat - as do the parrots. Monkeys, penguins, zebras etc. Are just as unaware of the camera as the children with the expressive faces and their parents. How alike they sometimes are! I'm not so sure I'd get so near these birds though - they could attack from either end! A tabby cat gets perilously close to the tiger enclosure and a crowd quickly gather round... Phew! The day moves along and the humans start to yawn, get tired and fractious; the animals still seemingly oblivious as if it is the people in the cages. The score and the editing make this an entertaining look at how things relax - us and them. There's some humourous photography, a teeny bit of science and some sunshine before the sense of inevitability creeps in. Everyone must go home, but some will definately be there tomorrow.

This ten minutes amusing short was filmed at Artis Royal Zoo in Amsterdam by noted Dutch documentary filmmaker Bert Haanstra.

It really begs the question as to who is watching who as we the human spectators gawp at the animals, Haanstra used hidden cameras in the cages to catch human behaviour as they gaze at the animals. Yet the animals are probably bemused as to the people paying attention to them, especially the baboons.

Through humorous use of music and precision editing we see at times that both the animals and humans were not so unlike.

This whimsical short was nominated for a BAFTA award for Best Short film.