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Belfast film, ‘Zoo’, to have world premiere at Chicago International Film Festival



Date Posted: October 13, 2017

Feature film, ZOO, from Belfast writer-director Colin McIvor and producer Katy Jackson, will get its world premiere at the Chicago International Film Festival this weekend on 14th October.

Made with funding from the Northern Ireland Screen Fund supported by Invest NI, the film has had an eventful journey over 7 years from its first reading as one of three scripts chosen for a BAFTA Rocliffe New Writing Forum in Belfast in November 2010 to its first international festival outing in Chicago this Saturday.

ZOO, based on a true story, tells the story of young Tom (Art Parkinson, Game of Thrones) and his misfit friends’ fight to save Buster the baby elephant during the German air raid bombings of Belfast in 1941.

The film shot in Northern Ireland between August and September 2016 and stars Penelope Wilton, Toby Jones, Art Parkinson, Damian O’Hare, Amy Huberman and Stephen Hagan.

The Chicago International Film Festival, North America’s oldest competitive film festival, actively seeks out the best in international cinema, with a view to discovering new talents. ZOO will play in the World Cinema section.

International sales are handled by Metro International and the UK distributor is eOne Entertainment.  ZOO was produced by Katy Jackson and John Leslie for Wee Buns Films, and Jacqueline Kerrin and Dominic Wright for Ripple World Pictures, with post-production handled by Yellowmoon. Christopher Figg and Robert Whitehouse of Piccadilly Pictures acted as Executive Producers.

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