Bert Haanstra filmed his 1962 short documentary Zoo in Amsterdam:

Zoo is a touching and humorous look at the way people and animals behave. This was the first time that Haanstra used a hidden camera. He said: “observing people and animals when they don’t know you’re there is fascinating. I bonded with them”. Making a film of this kind required tact and integrity, and Haanstra and his team were aware of their responsibilities throughout and respected the privacy of their subjects. In “Zoo”, Haanstra and cameraman Anton van Munster filmed people with a hidden camera to see how people behave in different situations and environments, without the self-consciousness created by the camera. They concealed the camera in a huge shopping bag, and hid their equipment in bushes, and built sheds with one-way glass.

The Dish posted Haanstra’s Oscar-winning short Glas here.

(Hat tip: kottke)