Micah Magee
Pettingzoo directormicahmagee creditpaul grandsard

Micah Magee grew up in a family of contemporary dancers. Her first education in world cinema was as programming and managing director of Cinematexas International Short Film Festival in Austin, Texas. In 2001, she was awarded a Fulbright Journalism Fellowship from Austin to Berlin. She stayed in Berlin to study film directing at the national German Film and Television Academy Berlin (DFFB).

In Berlin, Micah wrote and directed a number of award-winning short films, winning fx the documentary short film award in Oberhausen for KRANKENHAUS and the German Academy Award (Short Film Lola in Gold) for HEIMKOMMEN in 2012. Her first fiction feature PETTING ZOO, produced and repped by The Match Factory, premiered at the Berlinale Panorama in 2015 and picked up directing, acting, writing, audience, critics and ‘best film’ awards at international festivals before being exhibited in movie theaters in Europe and on Netflix in the USA. Micah also produces through directors' cooperative Makrorama. Productions include Johan Carlsen’s fiction feature DEATH ON THE STREETS as producer/co-author, which premiered in Rotterdam in 2021, and Haris Raftogiannis’ experimental documentary feature AERALANDI, which premiered at Thessaloniki in 2022.

Micah’s teaching engagements have included Harvard, the European Film College in Denmark, the Swedish Art Academy in Umeå, and the DFFB in Berlin. She currently teaches narrative directing at Temple University in Philadelphia.

photo credit: Paul Grandsard




  • Petting Zoo (Trailer)