Petting Zoo is an independent film that was funded by Kickstarter (you can view the trailer there), for about $10,000. It was created by Micah McGee.

Layla (Devon Keller) is a 17 year old kid, living in San Antonio, Texas. She’s living with her slacker boyfriend Danny (Kiowa Tucker), who’s more interested in drugs and chilling out with his friends. His life is quite the contrast to hers, as she’s responsible, and an honor roll student in high school. She is fed up, and moves in with her grandmother, her uncle, his wife, and their two children.

Layla manages to get a scholarship to the University of Texas at Austin. She also discovers she’s pregnant, and wants an abortion, but needs her parents’ consent. They are dead set against it, and try to get her to move back in with them, but she refuses.

Layla tries to make a go of things, essentially on her own. Almost everyone is against her, even Danny, who wants no part of being a father. In all the chaos, Layla finds herself.

I didn’t quite make the connection between the title of the film and the story, but that’s irrelevant. Given the amount of funding from Kickstarter (just over $10,000), this is an amazing accomplishment. The budget does not reflect the quality of this film. The realism and the strength of Devon Keller as Layla are what makes this work. I expect to see a lot of Devon in the future. The weight of the story rests entirely on her shoulders, and she wore it well.