Famous 'Horse-Sex Death' Being Turned Into Documentary Film

[matcom]

<snip>

NEW YORK It was one of the most sensational news stories off 2005, gone but not forgotten (by some): the case of a man from Enumclaw, Wash., who died in the act of having sex with a horse -- at a farm known on the Web as the place to go to fufill such fantasies.

Now, inevitably, the incident is the focus of a new documentary, appropriately titled, "Zoo," and recently picked as a selection of next January's Sundance Film Festival, no less. It's being described as a "humanizing" view of a local "normal family" who has a "strange and fatal" encounter.

It's made by Seattle filmmaker Robinson Devor. He has had two previous films at Sundance: the made-in-Seattle drama "Police Beat," and "The Woman Chaser."

Press reports at the time noted that the act had been caught on film by police investigators.

The story topped the list of most popular at some sites for weeks. At the Seattle Times it took the top spot, easily. After reviewing the number of hits several stories on the case got in 2005, Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat concluded, "As I look back at the year in news, it's clear I should have focused more on people having sex with horses."

He added that the main story on the case may have been "the most widely read material this paper has published in its 109-year history. I don't know whether to ignore this alarming factoid or to embrace it." He added: "Or, maybe, some of us are not giving readers enough of what you really want."

An E&P story at the time -- which focused on a local reporter's decision to cover the case, and how she handled the "sensitive" material -- gained national renown.

"We are witnessing a broadening of the traditional independent arena. In this year’s Festival there is a breadth of subject matter, vision and innovative storytelling that is transforming the old idea of the American indie film,” said Geoffrey Gilmore, director of the Sundance Film Festival, though it's not known if he had "Zoo" precisely in mind. “This year’s American Competition reflects a newfound awareness and self-expression that results in an engagement by the work that is both political and personal, a collective voice fueled by a steadfast optimism and hope for the future.”

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003466529

[spillthebeans]

1. gee...not another zoo docu

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0847467/

[BikeWriter]

2. You can't beat a good love story. :-)

[blogslut]

3. Poor Queen Victoria

Those nasty rumors just ain't true, I tells ya!

[JVS]

5. It wasn't Victoria it was Katherine the Great

[blogslut]

7. You are correct

I am wrong.

[cemaphonic]

8. And it was made up

[JVS]

11. Made up by Polish malcontents

[LostinVA]

10. Totally made up -- it never happened

Good way for the rest of the Western European courts and governments to smear a string female leader though, huh?

[JVS]

12. It was made up by Poles who didn't like the partitioning

[JVS]

4. I smell oscar

[MrCoffee]

6. Mr. Ed gives it two hooves up

[Redstone]

9. Christ, I'm glad I read this BEFORE dinner.

Redstone