Petting Zoo

Seventeen-year-old Lyla, an average teenager from San Antonio, Texas, gets pregnant from her boyfriend of the same age. Now she has to take a major life decision: should she keep the baby or have an abortion so that she can go to university on the scholarship she has obtained? The coming-of-age story of Petting Zoo is familiar, but it is conveyed with remarkable clarity and geniality. The director focuses on the heroine’s dilemmas with a documentary-like naturalness. In her debut film, Magee returns to memories and experiences from her hometown in order to describe the adolescent soul starkly and succinctly.

Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.

Script: Micah Magee

Cinematography: Armin Dierolf

Editing: Chris Wright

Sound: Manja Ebert, Alexandre Leser

Actors: Devon Keller (Leyla), Austin Reed (Aaron), DeztanyGonzales (Melanie), Kiowa Tucker (Danny)

Production: The Match Factory, Germany

Producers: Michael Weber, Viola Fugen, Johan Carlsen, Friederike Sophie Steinbeck, Athina Rachel Tsangari

Co-production: Makrorama (Germany-USA), Haos Film (Greece), DFFB

Costumes: Joshua Hurt

Production Design: Utah Snyder

Format: DCP Color

Production Country: Germany-Greece-USA

Production Year: 2015

Duration: 93

Contact: The Match Factory, GermanyT. +49 30 443 190 520F. +49 30 443 190 530info@matchfactory.dewww.the-match-factory.com

Awards:
Best Director – Munster IFF 2015, Germany

Micah Magee

She grew up in San Antonio, Texas. She graduated from the University of Texas in Austin with a dual degree in Plan II Honors and Radio-Television-Film. Also active in pirate radio and print journalism, she took a Fulbright journalism fellowship from Texas to Berlin, where she studied film directing at the German Film and Television Academy (DFFB). She lives with her three children and husband, Danish filmmaker Johan Carlsen, with whom she founded the directors’ co-op and production company Makrorama. She has directed a number of award-winning short films. She has received awards from the Oberhausen Film Festival (Germany) and Premiers Plans d’Angers (France). Petting Zoo is her first feature film.