Woodstock Film Festival 2026: American Zoo

Every documentary filmmaker dreams of discovering a lost archive and uncovering a hidden history. With American Zoo, director Tim Travers Hawkins found both. While exploring the now-shuttered Catskill Game Farm, he uncovers hundreds of reels of film. What begins as an extraordinary discovery soon becomes a gripping mystery, revealing the untold story of one of the region’s most beloved attractions. As the film peels back decades of history, it exposes surprising truths.

Rather than relying on scandal or nostalgia, American Zoo offers a nuanced exploration of the complicated relationship between humans and animals. Both suspenseful and deeply moving, it transforms a local landmark into a universally resonant story about preservation, memory, and our relationship with the natural world. – Jessica Edwards

About the Filmmaker:
Tim Travers Hawkins is an Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker from the UK. He began filmmaking in Latin America, where he was mentored by revolutionary filmmakers Fernando Birri and Pino Solanas in Argentina, and studied at the renowned EICTV film school in Cuba. His feature debut, XY Chelsea, told the story of Wikileaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning and her fight for freedom. He has since directed five feature films, and his latest, American Zoo, premiered at Tribeca Festival in 2026, where it was awarded a special jury mention. His work often portrays the intimate struggles of individuals who resist powerful systems and institutions.