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American Zoetrope is the name of the studio founded by Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Ford "Frank" Coppola is a five-time Academy Award-winning United States film director, Film producer and screenwriter. Away from showbusiness, Coppola is also a vintner, publisher and Hotel manager....
 and George Lucas
George Lucas

George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an Academy Award-nominated United States film director, film producer, screenwriter and chairman of Lucasfilm Ltd. He is best known for being the creator of the Epic film Sci-Fi franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones....
, named after a zoetrope
Zoetrope

A zoetrope is a device that produces an illusion of action from a rapid succession of static pictures.It consists of a cylinder with slits cut vertically in the sides....
 Coppola was given in the late 1960s by the filmmaker and collector of early film devices, Mogens Skot-Hansen.

Founded in 1969, American Zoetrope was an early adopter of digital filmmaking, including some of the earliest uses of HDTV. The studio has produced not only the films of Coppola (Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now

Apocalypse Now is an Cinema of the United States 1979 in film epic film war film set during the Vietnam War. It tells the tale of United States Armed Forces Captain Benjamin L....
, The Black Stallion
The Black Stallion (film)

The Black Stallion is a 1979 film based on the 1941 classic children's novel The Black Stallion by Walter Farley. It tells the story of Alec Ramsey, who is shipwrecked on a deserted island, together with a wild Arabian horse stallion whom he befriends....
, Bram Stoker's Dracula
Bram Stoker's Dracula

Dracula is a 1992 in film Horror film-romance film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker....
, etc.) but also George Lucas's pre-Star Wars films, THX 1138
THX 1138

THX 1138 is a 1971 in film science fiction film directed by George Lucas, from a screenplay by Lucas and Walter Murch. It depicts a dystopian future in which a high level of control is exerted upon the populace through omnipresent, faceless, android police officers and mandatory, regulated use of special drugs to suppress emotion, includi...
 and American Graffiti
American Graffiti

American Graffiti is a 1973 period piece coming of age film directed by George Lucas, and written by Lucas, Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck. The film stars Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips, Cindy Williams and Wolfman Jack and features Harrison Ford....
, as well as many others by such cutting-edge directors as Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard

Jean-Luc Godard is a French and Swiss filmmaker and one of the founding members of the Nouvelle Vague, or "French New Wave".Godard was born to French people-Swiss parents in Paris....
, Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa

was a prominent Japanese people filmmaker, film producer, screenwriter and film editing. His first credited film as director, , was released in 1943, his last as director, , in 1993....
, Wim Wenders
Wim Wenders

Ernst Wilhelm Wenders is a Germany film director, playwright, author, photographer and film producer....
, and Godfrey Reggio
Godfrey Reggio

Godfrey Reggio is an United States film director of experimental documentary films....
 (Koyaanisqatsi
Koyaanisqatsi

Koyaanisqatsi , also known as Koyaanisqatsi: Life out of Balance, is a 1983 film directed by Godfrey Reggio with music composed by Philip Glass and cinematography by Ron Fricke....
 and Powaqqatsi
Powaqqatsi

Powaqqatsi: Life in Transformation is the 1988 sequel to the experimental 1982 documentary film Koyaanisqatsi, by Godfrey Reggio. It is the second film in the Qatsi trilogy....
).

Four films produced by American Zoetrope are included in the American Film Institute's Top 100 Films
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies

The first of the AFI 100 Years... series of cinematic milestones, AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies is a list of the 100 best American movies, as determined by the American Film Institute from a poll of more than 1,500 artists and leaders in the film industry who chose from a list of 400 nominated movies....
.






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American Zoetrope is the name of the studio founded by Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Ford "Frank" Coppola is a five-time Academy Award-winning United States film director, Film producer and screenwriter. Away from showbusiness, Coppola is also a vintner, publisher and Hotel manager....
 and George Lucas
George Lucas

George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an Academy Award-nominated United States film director, film producer, screenwriter and chairman of Lucasfilm Ltd. He is best known for being the creator of the Epic film Sci-Fi franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones....
, named after a zoetrope
Zoetrope

A zoetrope is a device that produces an illusion of action from a rapid succession of static pictures.It consists of a cylinder with slits cut vertically in the sides....
 Coppola was given in the late 1960s by the filmmaker and collector of early film devices, Mogens Skot-Hansen.

Founded in 1969, American Zoetrope was an early adopter of digital filmmaking, including some of the earliest uses of HDTV. The studio has produced not only the films of Coppola (Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now

Apocalypse Now is an Cinema of the United States 1979 in film epic film war film set during the Vietnam War. It tells the tale of United States Armed Forces Captain Benjamin L....
, The Black Stallion
The Black Stallion (film)

The Black Stallion is a 1979 film based on the 1941 classic children's novel The Black Stallion by Walter Farley. It tells the story of Alec Ramsey, who is shipwrecked on a deserted island, together with a wild Arabian horse stallion whom he befriends....
, Bram Stoker's Dracula
Bram Stoker's Dracula

Dracula is a 1992 in film Horror film-romance film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker....
, etc.) but also George Lucas's pre-Star Wars films, THX 1138
THX 1138

THX 1138 is a 1971 in film science fiction film directed by George Lucas, from a screenplay by Lucas and Walter Murch. It depicts a dystopian future in which a high level of control is exerted upon the populace through omnipresent, faceless, android police officers and mandatory, regulated use of special drugs to suppress emotion, includi...
 and American Graffiti
American Graffiti

American Graffiti is a 1973 period piece coming of age film directed by George Lucas, and written by Lucas, Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck. The film stars Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips, Cindy Williams and Wolfman Jack and features Harrison Ford....
, as well as many others by such cutting-edge directors as Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard

Jean-Luc Godard is a French and Swiss filmmaker and one of the founding members of the Nouvelle Vague, or "French New Wave".Godard was born to French people-Swiss parents in Paris....
, Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa

was a prominent Japanese people filmmaker, film producer, screenwriter and film editing. His first credited film as director, , was released in 1943, his last as director, , in 1993....
, Wim Wenders
Wim Wenders

Ernst Wilhelm Wenders is a Germany film director, playwright, author, photographer and film producer....
, and Godfrey Reggio
Godfrey Reggio

Godfrey Reggio is an United States film director of experimental documentary films....
 (Koyaanisqatsi
Koyaanisqatsi

Koyaanisqatsi , also known as Koyaanisqatsi: Life out of Balance, is a 1983 film directed by Godfrey Reggio with music composed by Philip Glass and cinematography by Ron Fricke....
 and Powaqqatsi
Powaqqatsi

Powaqqatsi: Life in Transformation is the 1988 sequel to the experimental 1982 documentary film Koyaanisqatsi, by Godfrey Reggio. It is the second film in the Qatsi trilogy....
).

Four films produced by American Zoetrope are included in the American Film Institute's Top 100 Films
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies

The first of the AFI 100 Years... series of cinematic milestones, AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies is a list of the 100 best American movies, as determined by the American Film Institute from a poll of more than 1,500 artists and leaders in the film industry who chose from a list of 400 nominated movies....
. American Zoetrope-produced films have received 15 Academy Awards and 68 nominations. Lost in Translation
Lost in Translation (film)

Lost in Translation is a 2003 in film comedy-drama film starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson. It was the second feature film written and directed by Sofia Coppola, after The Virgin Suicides ....
 (2002), written and directed by Sofia Coppola
Sofia Coppola

Sofia Carmina Coppola is an American film director, actor, film producer and Academy Awards-winning screenwriter. She is the third female director, and only American woman, to be nominated for an Academy Award for Directing, the other two being Lina Wertm?ller and Jane Campion....
, won 2003's Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay
Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay

The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Awards for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. Before 1940, there was an Academy Award for Best Story for writing....
.

"Zoetrope" is also the name by which Coppola's quarterly fiction magazine, Zoetrope All-Story, is often known.

In an interview with Harry Knowles
Harry Knowles

Harry Jay Knowles is an American online film criticism known for his film news and film review website, Ain't It Cool News. Knowles is a member of the Austin Film Critics Association....
 for Ain't It Cool News
Ain't It Cool News

Ain't It Cool News is a website founded and run by Harry Knowles dedicated to rumors and reviews of upcoming and currently playing films and television projects, with an emphasis on science fiction, fantasy, Horror film, comic-book and Action film genres....
 published on May 8, 2007, Coppola stated that American Zoetrope is now owned entirely by his son and daughter, directors Roman Coppola
Roman Coppola

Roman Coppola is an American film director and music video director....
 and Sofia Coppola
Sofia Coppola

Sofia Carmina Coppola is an American film director, actor, film producer and Academy Awards-winning screenwriter. She is the third female director, and only American woman, to be nominated for an Academy Award for Directing, the other two being Lina Wertm?ller and Jane Campion....
.

American Zoetrope's latest production is a new film by Francis Ford Coppola, Youth Without Youth
Youth Without Youth

Youth Without Youth is a 2007 film by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the Youth Without Youth by Romanian author Mircea Eliade. It is the first film that Coppola has directed since 1997's The Rainmaker ....
, starring Tim Roth, which opened in October 2007. The film was written, produced and directed by Coppola, marking his return to personal filmmaking. Coppola's next project, Tetro
Tetro

Tetro is an upcoming film written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Vincent Gallo, Maribel Verd? and Carmen Maura. Filming took place in 2008 in Argentina , and studio shots in Alicante, Spain....
, will begin filming early 2008.

The company's headquarters is in the historic Sentinel Building in San Francisco's North Beach
North Beach, San Francisco, California

North Beach is a neighborhood in the northeast of San Francisco adjacent to Chinatown, San Francisco and Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, California....
 neighborhood. In the building lobby Coppola operates a popular small Italian café
Café

A caf? or coffee shop is an informal restaurant offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches. This differs from a coffee house, which is a limited-menu establishment which focuses on coffee sales....
 featuring Rubicon Estate
Rubicon Estate Winery

The Rubicon Estate Winery is located in Rutherford, California, California, USA. The winery sits on a portion of the historic Napa Valley AVA property first acquired in 1879 by a Finnish people Sea Captain Gustave Niebaum, founder of the Inglenook Winery....
 wine and memorabilia from his films.

The company was also known as Zoetrope Studios from 1979 until 1990.

Selected filmography

  • On the Road
    On the Road

    On the Road is a novel by American writer Jack Kerouac, written in April 1951, and published by Viking Press in 1957 in literature. It is a largely Autobiography work that was based on the spontaneous road trips of Kerouac and his friends across mid-century America....
     (directed by Walter Salles
    Walter Salles

    Walter Moreira Salles Jr. is an Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe and BAFTA winner Brazilian filmmaker and film producer of international prominence....
    )
  • Tetro
    Tetro

    Tetro is an upcoming film written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Vincent Gallo, Maribel Verd? and Carmen Maura. Filming took place in 2008 in Argentina , and studio shots in Alicante, Spain....
     (2009) (directed by Francis Ford Coppola)
  • Youth Without Youth (2007) (directed by Francis Ford Coppola)
  • The Good Shepherd
    The Good Shepherd (film)

    The Good Shepherd is a 2006 in film spy film directed by Robert De Niro and starring Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie, with an extensive supporting cast....
     (2006) (directed by Robert De Niro
    Robert De Niro

    Robert Mario De Niro, Jr. is a two-time Academy Award-winning United States actor, director and producer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors of all time....
    )
  • Marie Antoinette
    Marie Antoinette (2006 film)

    Marie Antoinette is a 2006 Academy Award winning biographical film, written and directed by Sofia Coppola. It is loosely based on the life of Marie Antoinette in the years leading up to the French Revolution....
     (2006) (directed by Sofia Coppola
    Sofia Coppola

    Sofia Carmina Coppola is an American film director, actor, film producer and Academy Awards-winning screenwriter. She is the third female director, and only American woman, to be nominated for an Academy Award for Directing, the other two being Lina Wertm?ller and Jane Campion....
    )
  • Kinsey
    Kinsey (film)

    Kinsey is a 2004 in film biographical film written and directed by Bill Condon. It describes the life of Alfred Kinsey . As a pioneer in the area of sexology research, his 1948 publication, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male was one of the first recorded works that tried to scientifically address and investigate sexual behaviour and i...
     (2004) (directed by Bill Condon
    Bill Condon

    William "Bill" Condon is an Academy Award-winning American screenwriter and Film director....
    )
  • Lost in Translation
    Lost in Translation (film)

    Lost in Translation is a 2003 in film comedy-drama film starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson. It was the second feature film written and directed by Sofia Coppola, after The Virgin Suicides ....
     (2003) (directed by Sofia Coppola)
  • Jeepers Creepers II
    Jeepers Creepers II

    Jeepers Creepers II is a 2003 in film horror film directed and written by Victor Salva. The movie is a sequel to the earlier film, Jeepers Creepers ....
     (2003) (directed by Victor Salva
    Victor Salva

    Victor Ronald Salva is an United States film director, mostly of Horror film. His body of work includes the films Powder and Jeepers Creepers ....
    )
  • Assassination Tango
    Assassination Tango

    Assassination Tango is a 2002 in film Argentina crime film directed by and starring Robert Duvall. It is a thriller based in the steamy side of Argentina tango ....
     (2002) (directed by Robert Duvall
    Robert Duvall

    Robert Selden Duvall is an United States film actor and Film director who has won an Academy Award, two Emmys, and four Golden Globes. He has appeared in films such as To Kill a Mockingbird , The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, Apocalypse Now, The Natural , Network , THX 1138, MASH , The Great Santini,...
    )
  • Pumpkin
    Pumpkin (film)

    Pumpkin is a 2002 film starring Christina Ricci. It is a dark comedy and Plot of forbidden love between a developmentally handicapped man and a sorority girl ....
     (2002) (directed by Anthony Abrams and Adam Larson Broder)
  • Jeepers Creepers
    Jeepers Creepers (film)

    Jeepers Creepers is a 2001 in film horror film written and directed by Victor Salva.The movie takes its name from the song Jeepers Creepers which is featured in the movie....
     (2001) (directed by Victor Salva
    Victor Salva

    Victor Ronald Salva is an United States film director, mostly of Horror film. His body of work includes the films Powder and Jeepers Creepers ....
    )
  • Sleepy Hollow
    Sleepy Hollow (film)

    Sleepy Hollow is a 1999 in film period piece horror film directed by Tim Burton, interpreting the legend of The Headless Horseman and based upon the Washington Irving story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow....
     (1999) (directed by Tim Burton
    Tim Burton

    Tim Burton is an award-winning Film Director and Film Producer. Burton was born in Burbank, California, the first of two sons to Bill Burton and Jean Erickson....
    )
  • The Virgin Suicides
    The Virgin Suicides (film)

    The Virgin Suicides is a 1999 in film United States film written and directed by Sofia Coppola, starring James Woods, Kathleen Turner, Kirsten Dunst and Josh Hartnett....
     (1999) (directed by Sofia Coppola)
  • The Rainmaker
    The Rainmaker (1997 film)

    The Rainmaker is a 1997 in film American motion picture directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It is based on the 1995 in literature The Rainmaker by John Grisham....
     (1997) (directed by Francis Ford Coppola)
  • Buddy
    Buddy (film)

    Buddy is a 1997 in film film directed by Caroline Thompson. It starred Rene Russo as Gertrude Lintz and Robbie Coltrane as her husband.The film was based on the life of a gorilla called Massa with elements of Gertrude Lintz's other gorilla Gargantua ....
     (1997) (directed by Caroline Thompson
    Caroline Thompson

    Caroline Thompson is a novelist, screenwriter, film director and Film producer . She has written the screenplay for three of Tim Burton films, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas and most recently Corpse Bride....
    )
  • The Odyssey
    The Odyssey (TV miniseries)

    The Odyssey is an Emmy award-winning and Golden Globe-nominated miniseries on NBC from 1997, directed by Andrei Konchalovsky who won the award for "Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries or a Special"....
     (1997) (directed by Andrei Konchalovsky
    Andrei Konchalovsky

    Andrey Sergeyevich Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky is a Russian filmmaker....
    )
  • Jack
    Jack (film)

    Jack is a 1996 comedy-drama film starring Robin Williams, Diane Lane, Brian Kerwin, Jennifer Lopez, Fran Drescher, and Bill Cosby, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola....
     (1996) (directed by Francis Ford Coppola)
  • Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
    Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

    Frankenstein is a 1994 in film film directed by Kenneth Branagh, starring Robert De Niro, Tom Hulce, Helena Bonham Carter, and Kenneth Branagh....
     (1994) (directed by Kenneth Branagh
    Kenneth Branagh

    Kenneth Charles Branagh is an Emmy Award-winning, Academy Award-nominated actor and film director from Northern Ireland....
    )
  • Bram Stoker's Dracula
    Bram Stoker's Dracula

    Dracula is a 1992 in film Horror film-romance film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker....
     (1992) (directed by Francis Ford Coppola)
  • The Godfather Part III
    The Godfather Part III

    The Godfather Part III is a crime drama film written by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola, and directed by Coppola. It completes the story of Michael Corleone, a Mafia kingpin who tries to legitimize his criminal empire....
     (1990) (directed by Francis Ford Coppola)
  • Peggy Sue Got Married
    Peggy Sue Got Married

    Peggy Sue Got Married is a 1986 comedy-drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and starring Kathleen Turner as a woman on the verge of a divorce, who finds herself transported back to the days of her senior year in high school....
     (1986) (directed by Francis Ford Coppola)
  • The Cotton Club
    The Cotton Club (film)

    The Cotton Club is a 1984 in film crime film-drama film, centered on a popular real-life Harlem, Manhattan jazz club in the 1930s, the Cotton Club....
     (1984) (directed by Francis Ford Coppola)
  • Rumble Fish
    Rumble Fish

    Rumble Fish is a 1983 film directed, produced and co-written by Francis Ford Coppola. It is based on the novel Rumble Fish by S.E. Hinton, who also co-wrote the screenplay....
     (1983) (directed by Francis Ford Coppola)
  • The Outsiders
    The Outsiders (film)

    The Outsiders is a 1983 in film Cinema of the United States drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, an film adaptation of the The Outsiders by S....
     (1983) (directed by Francis Ford Coppola)
  • One From the Heart
    One from the Heart

    One from the Heart is a musical film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It is set entirely in Las Vegas, Nevada, on the Las Vegas Strip and the desert surrounding the city....
     (1982) (directed by Francis Ford Coppola)
  • The Black Stallion
    The Black Stallion (film)

    The Black Stallion is a 1979 film based on the 1941 classic children's novel The Black Stallion by Walter Farley. It tells the story of Alec Ramsey, who is shipwrecked on a deserted island, together with a wild Arabian horse stallion whom he befriends....
     (1979) (directed by Carroll Ballard
    Carroll Ballard

    Carroll Ballard He started out making documentaries for the U.S. information agency, Beyond This Winter's Wheat and Harvest ; the latter was nominated for an Academy Awards....
    )
  • Apocalypse Now
    Apocalypse Now

    Apocalypse Now is an Cinema of the United States 1979 in film epic film war film set during the Vietnam War. It tells the tale of United States Armed Forces Captain Benjamin L....
     (1979) (directed by Francis Ford Coppola)
  • THX 1138
    THX 1138

    THX 1138 is a 1971 in film science fiction film directed by George Lucas, from a screenplay by Lucas and Walter Murch. It depicts a dystopian future in which a high level of control is exerted upon the populace through omnipresent, faceless, android police officers and mandatory, regulated use of special drugs to suppress emotion, includi...
     (1971) (directed by George Lucas)
  • The Rain People
    The Rain People

    The Rain People is a 1969 in film film by Francis Ford Coppola. Among its leading players are James Caan and Robert Duvall, both of whom would later work with Coppola in The Godfather....
     (1969) (directed by Francis Ford Coppola)


External links

  • the website of the fiction magazine.