THE ZOOKEEPER Synopsis Eastern Europe - a city ravished by civil war. Present Day. Jonah Ludovic (Sam Neill) is a custodian at a small municipal zoo. He writes in a journal, poetry which softens the cynical observations of a man living in self-imposed penance. Wherever he came from, whoever he was, Ludovic is now alone, silenced by a deed unknown As the story opens, the crisis in the city has escalated. The streets are owned by snipers and guns in the hills are raining shells into the old city. People are fleeing with whatever belongings they can carry. After a night of heavy shelling Ludovic arrives at his job to find the staff abandoning the zoo. He joins a skeleton crew that includes an elderly guard and a veterinarian (Om Puri). Their purpose: to keep the animals alive until help arrives from an international zoological mission. Within days the guard disappears, the veterinarian is killed and Ludovic is left to the job alone. During a lull in the fighting a wounded ten year boy arrives at Ludovic's doorstep. He is Zioig (Javor Loznica), a survivor from a cleansed village, and a hardened child soldier. Ludovic reluctantly nurses Zioig back to health, dreading the consequences of this sanctuary. Soon Zioig returns with a young woman, Ankica (Gina McKee), his mother, and makes it clear that they will stay in the zoo together and Ludovic will help them. As shells fall within the zoo compound, and feed supplies dwindle, Ludovic is at a loss. Now he must also contend with Dragov (Ulrich Thomsen), a sociopathic captain of a platoon of murderous nationalists searching for Zioig and Ankica. As the war intensifies, the animals are on the brink of starvation. Ludovic, Zioig and Ankica struggle to keep the animals alive. They discover each other, their secrets, and eventually forgiveness and love. THE ZOOKEEPER Press Release Hollywood star Sam Neill plays the lead in South African director Ralph Ziman’s The Zookeeper, depicting wartime events in the zoo of an East European capital. Situated on the front line, the zoo is constantly exposed to bombardments. Food supplies have been cut, and the starving animals – if not already requisitioned for army provisions - are easy targets to snipers. Originally inspired by the situation in Kuwait City after the Iraqi invasion, when shell-shocked lions from the zoo were running around in the streets, the story in Matthew Bishop’s original screenplay has been set to take place in the Balkans. The film was shot in Milovice, an ex-Soviet military base outside Prague in the Czech Republic and on other Czech locations. Most recently seen in Robert Redford’s The Horse Whisperer and Robert Halmi’s television mini-series Merlin, Northern Ireland born Sam Neill – who won international acclaim for such films as A Cry in the Dark, The Piano and Jurassic Park – plays a recluse ex-communist Jonah Ludovic, who stays behind in the city zoo to keep the animals alive, until the arrival of a rescue mission. UK actress Gina McKee (Notting Hill, Wonderland) co-stars, with award-winning Danish actor Ulrich Thomsen (Festen/The Celebration), Indian actor Om Puri (East Is East), and first time Bosnian child actor Javor Loznica who plays the boy Zioig. The USD 6 million feature was produced by Juliusz Kossakowski for Copenhagen based Svendsen Film ApS. and is being released internationally through Moviefan Scandinavia A/S. THE ZOOKEEPER Back Story In 1991, an article in the New York Times captured the attention of screenwriter Matthew Bishop – it was a brief human interest story about the zoo animals in Kuwait City after the Iraqi invasion. “It was a sad commentary on our deeds as this twentieth century was quickly coming to a close” comments Bishop. Soon after he wrote the screenplay entitled The Zookeeper. Film producer Juliusz Kossakowski read The Zookeeper and immediately fell in love with the eastern European characters and settings. From the onset, he contemplated a small independent film, steeped in eastern European sarcasm, and cynicism. Quickly, however, the cold reality of the film world set in. What zoo in the world would allow a war film to be shot within its compound? What about the animals? How could they be filmed in a ‘war’ set without exposing them to danger? For the next four years, Juliusz Kossakowski roamed the globe, scouting every imaginable zoo in Eastern Europe and looking for a director who will understand characters of the screenplay. Meanwhile, his partners in Svendsen Film, Michael Lunderskov and Michael Laursen began the task of financing what would eventually turn out to be an ambitious six million US dollar production. With all this frenetic activity going on in Europe, fast pan to Hollywood! As South African born film director Ralph Ziman was pitching a story of a zoo during the civil war in Angola, the Hollywood studio executive suddenly interrupted him. “But I’ve read this script!” What the executive had indeed read was Matthew Bishop’s screenplay. Phone calls were made, meetings were arranged, eventually Kossakowski and Ziman met and decide to join forces. “Throughout these seven years of development, the same zoo story has re-appeared far too many times in the principal newspapers around the world” comments Ziman. Unfortunately the same tragedy has occurred again in Kabul, Afghanistan; in Luanda, Angola; in Kinshasa, Zaire; in Sarajevo and latest in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Will we ever learn? THE ZOOKEEPER The Zookeeper From Sarajevo The picture of the brown bear surrounded by skulls of other bears he had been forced to eat – the last survivor of the zoo in Sarajevo – went worldwide. It quickly become another symbol of the cruelties of the war in Bosnia. In the beginning the Sarajevo zookeepers worked under UN SFOR protection, but one of the zookeepers was gunned down anyway and so the soldiers gave up. “Then there was nothing we could do,” says Easd Tajic the zookeeper at Pionirska Dolina (Valley of Pioneers) in Sarajevo. “The lions’ cage was only 50 metres from our office, and I tried to reach it several times, but was shot at and had to back off. In the end the lioness killed the last of the lions that were totally effected to get food. When she died herself, she had eaten her own feet. They were all gone, when grenades hit the cave,” Tajic recalls. “God forbid, but if this were ever to happen again I would simply let the animals out. At least they would stand a better chance out in the open, than in a cage with no food, and targets to snipers,” says Tajic,. Now Sarajevo’s zoo has reopened, with a few animals – a horse, a zebra, some ducks, and a brown bear. A Croatian peasant had found the bear walking restlessly around its mother, who had been killed by a landmine, and remembering the photo from the war, he brought it to Tajic. There is a $1.5 million restoration plan for the zoo, but the zookeeper and his helping hands do not think it has a high priority. “We need the world to help us. Both the animals and Sarajevo deserve it,” they say. “The Zookeeper From Sarajevo” is a 10 minute documentary companion piece to be broadcast prior to the theatrical opening of the feature film. THE ZOOKEEPER The Cast SAM NEILL (Ludovic): Irish-born to New Zealand parents, Sam Neill is most often recognised from his starring roles in Jane Campion’s The Piano (1992) and Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park (1993): for more than two decades he has been his country’s leading actor in international films. When he was eight, the family returned to New Zealand, where he first developed an interest in acting at school and university. With a BA in English, Neill began his career with the Amamus Theatre Group, before starring in Roger Donaldson’s Sleeping Dogs (New Zealand 1978) and Gillian Armstrong’s My Brilliant Career (Australia 1980). Internationally he has worked in a wide range of roles, from Fred Shepisi’s A Cry in the Dark (1988), which won him a Best Actor prize from the Australian Film Institute, to John McTiernan’s The Hunt for Red October (1990). He garnered his first Golden Globe nomination – and a Best Actor on British Television award – for the title role of Reilly, Ace of Spies (1983). Most recently Neill, who has received an OBE for his contributions to acting, was seen in Christopher Columbus’ Bicentennial Man, Robert Redford’s The Horse Whisperer and Robert Halmi’s television mini-series, Merlin. GINA MCKEE (Ankica): As a teenager, McKee responded to an ad for a drama workshop, mainly to escape boredom in her small hometown of Northeast England. She took an instant liking to acting, but not to classical training. "Everything I do comes from improvisation. It's something I am incredibly familiar with," she says. She had her big break in the BBC mini-series "Our Friends in the North" (1996), chronicling - in nine episodes - the lives of four friends aged between 18-50. Roger Mitchell saw her performance and offerred her the role as Hugh Grant's wheelchair-blound friend in "Notting Hill" (1999). Other feature credits include Mike Leigh's Naked (1993) and Michael Winterbottom's "Wonderland" (1999). ULRICH THOMSEN (Dragov): Till now Danish actor Ulrich Thomsen has equally shared his career between stage and screen, but film and television are gradually taking over. Educated at Denmark’s National Theatre School, and with a long list of theatre credits, he had his feature debut in Ole Bornedal’s Nattevagten (Nightwatch/1994), and went on to perform in Bornedal’s television series, Charlot og Charlotte (Charlot and Charlotte /1995). Thomsen’s prize- winning performance in Thomas Vinterberg’s Festen (The Celebration/1997) led to roles in, among others, Christian Piers Bethly’s Something about Harry (1998), Michael Apted’s James Bond installment, The World Is Not Enough (1999) and Catherine Bigelow’s The Weight Of Water (2001.) OM PURI (The Vet): A trained actor and a household name in his native country of India, where he has appeared in more than 30 features, Mr.Puri entered the international scene through his performances in English language productions of Richard Attenborough’s feature, Gandhi (1982), and the BBC mini-series, Jewel of the Empire (1984). Since then he has been a regular on the screen both in the US and the UK. Film credits include Roland Joffe’s City of Joy (1992), Mike Nichols’ Wolf (1996) and most recently the lead as the tyrannical, Pakistani family father in Damien O’Donnell’s award-winning East Is East (1999). JAVOR LOZNICA (Zioig): Except for a minor part in a school play, Javor Loznica – now 12 years old – had no previous acting experience. His Danish teacher told him that a production company was looking for a boy his age to perform in a feature film. Bosnian refugees, the Loznica family fled the area of Tusla in 1992, first to Serbia, then to Denmark. Today they live in Copenhagen, where father Mikki is a painter while mother Esma holds a day job. Both Javor and his younger sister, Jelena, go to school. Javor has no memories from Bosnia, but Esma recalls that during the war her father-in-law was member of a mine-sweeping squad, therefore the opening sequence in The Zookeeper where the villagers are made to walk through a minefield has a very disturbing effect on her. Esma’s cousin, her husband and their two children were all killed during the conflict. On the set Javor found it especially difficult to laugh – and he hated shooting the sequence where he had to smoke cigarettes. “My mother was there all the time, handing me a tooth-brush whenever we had a break,” he says. On the other hand he loved the scenes with the animals – a baby monkey kept crawling on his head – and as one of the camels gave birth, its owner named the young ones Javor and Jelena. After playing in The Zookeeper Javor would like to continue a career in cinema. THE ZOOKEEPER Biographical Notes Ralph Ziman Director Born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1963, Writer-Director Ralph Ziman began his career as a news and documentary cameraman in South Africa at the age of eighteen. In 1984 Mr. Ziman emigrated to the United Kingdom establishing himself as one of the most sought after directors of music videos. During the next ten years, Ziman worked extensively in Europe, Australia and America, directing music videos, commercials, and short films, for a diverse group of musical artists including, Faith No More, Michael Jackson, Ozzy Osborne, Vanessa Williams, Alice Cooper, Toni Braxton, Rod Stewart, Elton John, Donna Summer, Iron Maiden, Fine Young Cannibals and Living Colour. Nominated multiple times for the coveted MTV Best Video Award, Mr. Ziman received the award for his work with Faith No More. The political climate in South Africa inspired Mr. Ziman to return to his native Johannesburg in 1993. For the next two years he set out to chronicle the post apartheid era with his debut feature film, 'Hearts and Minds'. Ziman's film and his work as writer/director, received worldwide critical acclaim. VARIETY called 'Hearts and Minds' ..."remarkable, a powerful debut for director Ralph Ziman, astonishing". The film competed at the Montreal, Berlin and Portuguese Film Festivals winning the latter's Grand Jury Prize along with Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography . Ziman recently completed directing Sam Neill, Gina McKee, Ulrich Thomsen and Om Puri in 'The Zookeeper' for Svendsen Films ApS in Prague, the Czech Republic. Mr. Ziman divides his time between London and Los Angeles with his wife Maria, daughter Jessica and son Max. THE ZOOKEEPER Svendsen Film ApS. Produced by Juliusz Kossakowski for Copenhagen based Svendsen Film ApS., this USD 6 million feature film was financed almost entirely with private funding through Amagerbanken A/S. Only Eurimages, the European Film Fund, chipped in for a small portion of the budget as subsidy funding. “At Svendsen Film we plan to co-produce and co-finance two features annually, in the $3-10 million range – all English language, aimed at the international markets,” explains Michael Lunderskov, a business graduate and former advertising executive, who has set up the production company with colleagues, Michael H. Laursen and Juliusz Kossakowski. “While everybody was focussing on IT opportunities in the US, we realised that the film industry was doing equally well, however, the sector was undervalued so we decided to have a go at feature film financing,” adds Laursen. “It did not take us long to learn that if you want money in the bank for your production you must sign a star. And you cannot sign a star if you do not have money in the bank.” The Zookeeper is being released through Moviefan Scandinavia A/S – a new financing and sales company. With headquarters at the Danish Film Studio outside Copenhagen, Moviefan has recently opened an international sales operation in London. Handling in-house productions as well as acquisitions, the company had its first outing at MIFED 2000.