We are shooting a fiction feature about youth, love and teen pregnancy in San Antonio, Texas.
In 2011, San Antonio had the second highest teen pregnancy rate of any city in America – more than 50% higher than the national average. According to a 2011 Texas Freedom Network report, 94% of Texas public schools still teach “Abstinence Only” as birth control in sex education. A Texas teen will statistically have more sex, earlier, and with more people than the rest of the United States – but is much less likely to use a condom. Four thousand new teens are pregnant in San Antonio every year.
PETTING ZOO is a fiction film that draws on documentary elements to tell it's story, focusing on the subjective dreams and impressions of the main character, Layla.
Layla (17) is top of her high school class - and pregnant. Giving into family pressure, Layla decides against an abortion, drops her scholarship to college and moves into her beloved Grandma‘s trailer on the family property. She goes to work, to church, to school. She meets a new boy - Aaron - different from everyone else. Just as things seem to be falling into place again, work and stress take their toll. Layla looses her baby at six months in utero. With three days to wait with a dead baby inside her before labor is induced at the hospital, Layla begins to see her environment differently - and begins to find herself.
Woven through the film are the following important elements: This feeling when you wake up that you are not sure if you are forgetting who you really are, maybe you are really more real someplace else and you are forgetting the most important thing. What is that most important thing? Something is slipping away from you. It is a bothersome feeling. Especially combined with the feeling that life is hurtling you through time and space in a direction you aren't sure you want to be going. The difference from feeling like you have ambition in life and suddenly feeling like it doesn't matter; you're stuck where you are. Giving in to the surroundings.
Cultural inheritance. Body: sex doesn't matter, friendship does. As a teenage girl sometimes you have sex before it means anything to you. It means a lot if someone touches your face. Your body is just beginning to be yours. As a pregnant teenager your body changes all over again. At the same time: sex does matter. As a teenager you're totally obsessed with sex. It's all around you. You don't know what it is.
By looking frankly and intimately at Layla's subjective experience, PETTING ZOO will generate truthful discussion about domestic violence, teen pregnancy, sexuality, poverty and choices available to young women in America.
This Kickstarter campaign is to raise funds to pay our wonderful actors, rent lights and equipment, and bring our awesome crew of talented professionals to San Antonio! Principle photography starts September 2012, so we are almost there! Every small contribution goes a long, long way and helps us make ends meet through the end of our shoot in October.
We thank you very much for your interest & support!
- Micah, Johan, Armin, Friederike, John Mata and the rest of the Petting Zoo Crew
PETTING ZOO is produced by THE MATCH FACTORY in co-production with HAOSFILM, MAKRORAMA and the DFFB and is made possible in part by the Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg and the New York State Council for the Arts.
FAQ
-
Our last film, HEIMKOMMEN, played in competition at SXSW, won the audience award for Best Student Film at Premiers Plans d'Angers and continues to screen successfully at festivals around the world. While we can't post it publicly in the web, if you send us a request we will forward you a password protected link! More info on HEIMKOMMEN here!
HEIMKOMMEN
23 min / 35mm / Germany 2012
When Robert's girlfriend dies in a car accident, he turns his grief against his younger sister Jo. Jo dives into a new hobby - ice hockey - where she gathers the strength to bring her brother back to the land of the living.WHAT THE PRESS HAS TO SAY
"Micah Magee’s short film Heimkommen (Coming Home) is a haunting meditation on grief, guilt and healing. Stuck in almost an omnipresent gray haze, everything feels like the aftermath of the rainstorm that was instrumental in the film’s opening tragedy. The beauty of that idea, that the storm never really moved on, plays in sync with the emotions on screen, both expressed and repressed." Film Threat
http://www.filmthreat.com/reviews/47906/"A poignant and touching look at sibling tensions in the wake of a tragic accident, Heimkommen (Come Home) tells a story that is simple and deep." Slackerwood, Austin Film Society
http://www.slackerwood.com/node/2759interview with Robert Sims / "Lights Camera Austin" (Austin KOOP Radio)
http://www.koop.org/blogs/view.article.php?a8954interview with Nathan Cone on Texas Public Radio
http://www.tpr.org/news/2012/03/news12030901.html
114
Backers
$10,685
pledged of $10,000 goal
0
seconds to go
Funding period
Aug 22, 2012 -
Sep 21, 2012
(30 days)
- First created · 1 backed
- Micah Magee 957 friends
- Website: pettingzoomovie.com
Pledge $5 or more
8 backers
An official shout out on the WALL OF FAME on our website, www.pettingzoomovie.com
Estimated delivery: Oct 2012Pledge $15 or more
14 backers
You'll get love from around the world! With this donation, we'll send you a handwritten postcard from Texas & Berlin + you'll get a shout out on the WALL OF FAME
Estimated delivery: Jan 2013Pledge $25 or more
19 backers
Girl Power! With your donation, you'll receive a protected preview link of the film + a WALL OF FAME shout out and special thanks at the end of the film.
Estimated delivery: Jan 2014Pledge $35 or more
18 backers
It's official! You are now a member of Petting Zoo, and you'll have the bag to prove it! You'll receive all of the above + a handmade screenprinted "Members" Bag with a special surprise inside.
Estimated delivery: Jan 2013Pledge $50 or more
11 backers Limited (14 of 25 left)
A taste of South Texas - all of the above plus one jar of Grandma's homemade jalapeno jelly shipped right to your doorstep! (add $10 if you need international shipping)
Estimated delivery: Oct 2012Pledge $75 or more
4 backers
Yeehaw! With your donation, you'll receive all of the above - the bag, preview link and spicy marmalade - plus a full sized limited edition signed PETTING ZOO poster for your wall.
Estimated delivery: Jan 2014Pledge $100 or more
10 backers
All of the above, plus a handmade screenprinted "Member" T-shirt, designed by Kim Koester.
Estimated delivery: Jan 2014Pledge $150 or more
6 backers
Awesome! Not only is the official Petting Zoo DVD & Poster yours to own, but you'll also get two original posters of Kim Koester's ANASOMNIA - http://anasomnia.com + all of the above.
Estimated delivery: Jan 2014Pledge $250 or more
2 backers Limited (1 of 3 left)
Ever been on a film set? If you're in the great state of Texas, you will have an official invitation to visit the set of PETTING ZOO in San Antonio to meet the team! Plus a WALL OF FAME shout out and special thanks at the end of the film. Transportation not included.
Estimated delivery: Sep 2012Pledge $350 or more
1 backer
Invitation for you + 1 to a special preview screening party celebration hosted by Petting Zoo crew in NYC, Berlin, and San Antonio. Plus you get a MEMBER bag and T-shirt, shout out on the WALL OF FAME, and a preview link to the film and a special thanks in the credits. Transportation not included!
Estimated delivery: Jan 2014Pledge $500 or more
0 backers Limited (1 of 1 left)
Director Micah Magee & Chef Brooke Smith, executive chef at the famous Esquire in San Antonio, will make dinner for you + 1 in your home. (San Antonio area only) You'll also receive a MEMBER bag and T-shirt, shout out on the WALL OF FAME, and a preview link to the film. Check out another Berlin / S.A. kickback at the same level below!
Estimated delivery: Sep 2012Pledge $500 or more
0 backers Limited (4 of 4 left)
Texas hospitality! A luxury high speed cruise on the original Miami Vice boat with our friend Joe Richardson (San Antonio). Or, in Berlin, a 24hr club tour - that's how we do! Get yourself here and we'll take you out. Plus you get a MEMBER bag and T-shirt, shout out on the WALL OF FAME, a preview link to the film and a special thanks in the credits.
Estimated delivery: Sep 2012Pledge $750 or more
0 backers Limited (5 of 5 left)
You are amazing! You will get a custom-made College Jacket designed by our good friend SOOPH (http://sooph.de/) plus the MEMBER bag and T-shirt, a shout out on the WALL OF FAME, a preview link to the film and a special thanks in the credits.
Estimated delivery: Oct 2013Pledge $1,000 or more
0 backers Limited (10 of 10 left)
We are so grateful for your support! You will receive a jar of spicy marmalade, a MEMBER bag and T-shirt, shout out on the WALL OF FAME, preview link to the film, DVD & Poster, the College Jacket and an invitation to the private screening!
Estimated delivery: Sep 2013Pledge $2,500 or more
1 backer Limited (2 of 3 left)
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER. Thank you so much! You will be credited in the film and on IMDB, in addition to the jar of spicy marmalade, a MEMBER bag and T-shirt, shout out on the WALL OF FAME, preview link to the film, DVD & Poster, the College Jacket and an invitation to the private screening!
Estimated delivery: Jan 2014Pledge $5,000 or more
0 backers Limited (2 of 2 left)
CO-Producer! Welcome on board! Receive all of the above including two tickets to a festival screening of your choice (travel & accommodations not provided). Your name will appear during the film's title sequence and on IMDB.
Estimated delivery: Jan 2014
