Post by enbycrow on Aug 6, 2022 23:11:10 GMT
"Zoptions: Focusing On Your Future" or "Zoptions: L'Objectif: Votre Aveni" is a lost Canadian educational film from 1991/1992, created by/for the Canadian government. The runtime is around 10-15 minutes (20-24 minutes including the French version sometimes included on the tape). It was released on VHS. I've looked for it, and it seems completely lost... on the internet at least.
I haven't seen it personally, but my Father's talked about it numerous times. He saw it in the 90s in PEI. He mentioned how the Confederation Library had a copy of it in with a bunch of tapes from the NFB, but being that they just got a new library, it's doubtful they'd still have a copy (It doesn't appear on their online catalogue). Although, the reason he saw it was not in school, it was because his father took a copy of it home from the media centre in Charlottetown for his younger brother.
The plot, from my understanding, is about a group of 5 kids using an arcade cabinet with a game that shows them possible career paths and futures they could have, and it taught them the importance of completing their education to get said jobs. The name of the game is, of course, ZOPTIONS. It promotes ideas like entrepreneurship, life-long learning, and sound career planning. A lot of teaching guides say it's also largely about drop-out prevention, which goes with the theme of completing one's education. It was part of a module/initiative in Alberta called "Stay In --You Win", though it was shown all throughout Canada. The game's mascot (So to speak) is an eyeball; possibly named "Zoppy".
One of the only references (And the first one) I could find about this online is a few WorldCat listings. There does appear to be a two listings of it in Québec... which about 2,735 km away...
One was in Gatineau and the other at UQAM. So at the very least, two French copies may still exist in Canada and possibly they could be acquired through something like an inter-library loan or something? There might also be a few in Texas of all places? But I really don't have the means to access either of these copies.
Other than that, the listing only has the runtime, producers, and its OCLC number.
Searching for the French copy, a I found a listing on the Canadian Gov. website. It also gives a 1989 production date (The date does vary a bit; 1989-1993) as well as the name "R. Charbonneau Productions, Inc" as the producer, which is different from the original WorldCat listings. I believe it was commissioned by the Canadian Gov. by them for school use. I couldn't find much on R. Charbonneau and they seemed to have dissolved last year.
I've found a bunch of relavent links and sources, and even a possible unlisted YouTube video in a Reddit post from last week. If you want any more information I'd reccomend checking this out first! [Link]
I've been thinking about this movie for over half of my entire life so I really want to see it. Despite being an educational short , it just sounds too weird to be boring. The intrigue of having heard about this so many times and remembering a small part of it, yet not being able to find anything just makes me want to find it even more. I was able to find a bunch of stuff in only a few days, so hopefully, someone just happens to remember this or know something which would really help!
Thanks to anyone who reads! I'll try and answer anything I can!
I haven't seen it personally, but my Father's talked about it numerous times. He saw it in the 90s in PEI. He mentioned how the Confederation Library had a copy of it in with a bunch of tapes from the NFB, but being that they just got a new library, it's doubtful they'd still have a copy (It doesn't appear on their online catalogue). Although, the reason he saw it was not in school, it was because his father took a copy of it home from the media centre in Charlottetown for his younger brother.
The plot, from my understanding, is about a group of 5 kids using an arcade cabinet with a game that shows them possible career paths and futures they could have, and it taught them the importance of completing their education to get said jobs. The name of the game is, of course, ZOPTIONS. It promotes ideas like entrepreneurship, life-long learning, and sound career planning. A lot of teaching guides say it's also largely about drop-out prevention, which goes with the theme of completing one's education. It was part of a module/initiative in Alberta called "Stay In --You Win", though it was shown all throughout Canada. The game's mascot (So to speak) is an eyeball; possibly named "Zoppy".
One of the only references (And the first one) I could find about this online is a few WorldCat listings. There does appear to be a two listings of it in Québec... which about 2,735 km away...
One was in Gatineau and the other at UQAM. So at the very least, two French copies may still exist in Canada and possibly they could be acquired through something like an inter-library loan or something? There might also be a few in Texas of all places? But I really don't have the means to access either of these copies.
Other than that, the listing only has the runtime, producers, and its OCLC number.
Searching for the French copy, a I found a listing on the Canadian Gov. website. It also gives a 1989 production date (The date does vary a bit; 1989-1993) as well as the name "R. Charbonneau Productions, Inc" as the producer, which is different from the original WorldCat listings. I believe it was commissioned by the Canadian Gov. by them for school use. I couldn't find much on R. Charbonneau and they seemed to have dissolved last year.
I've found a bunch of relavent links and sources, and even a possible unlisted YouTube video in a Reddit post from last week. If you want any more information I'd reccomend checking this out first! [Link]
I've been thinking about this movie for over half of my entire life so I really want to see it. Despite being an educational short , it just sounds too weird to be boring. The intrigue of having heard about this so many times and remembering a small part of it, yet not being able to find anything just makes me want to find it even more. I was able to find a bunch of stuff in only a few days, so hopefully, someone just happens to remember this or know something which would really help!
Thanks to anyone who reads! I'll try and answer anything I can!
