Fascinating and beguiling, Bestiaire is Denis Côté's mesmerizing meditation on the relationship between man and beast. This strikingly beautiful film about looking —starts with a group of art students attempting to sketch an animal — that blurs the line between observer and observed. There may be no traditional narrative, yet there is breathtaking dramatic tension in every exquisitely framed shot: the sight of a lion attacking the doors of its cage or the scurrying striped legs of zebras in a holding pen. Contemplative and enthralling, Bestiaire is cinema at its purest.

"Using the film form to challenge the very notion of representation, Bestiaire is an elegant, bewitching meditation on the nature of sentience and the boundaries between nature and civilization." —Sundance Film Festival

"Haunting mix of curiosity and compassion." —Variety

"A mesmerizing free-association visual study of the interaction between humans and captive animals." —The Hollywood Reporter

"Wordless, unlovely splendor." —Slant

"Consider this the arthouse version of a Disney nature project. Bestiaire shuns the typical view of nature documentaries and manages something artful and new." —Film School Rejects

Official Selection, Sundance Film Festival

Official Selection, Berlin International Film Festival

Official Selection, Toronto International Film Festival

Official Selection, Jury Prize, Yale Environmental Film Festival

Official Selection, Currents New Media Festival