‘Stranger-than-fiction’ new film uncovering secret ‘Jurassic Park’ in the Catskills to premiere in June

We are thrilled for Stern & Wild filmmaker Vicki Cooper, one of the amazing team behind the extraordinary feature documentary AMERICAN ZOO which is set to debut on both sides of the Atlantic next week.

A disturbing work about America's first-ever and largest private zoo and the arrogance of men playing God with nature, the film will receive its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival in New York on 4 June and its UK premiere on 5 June at SXSW London.

Described by the filmmakers as ‘a stranger-than-fiction documentary thriller,’ AMERICAN ZOO reveals the shocking secret history of the Catskill Game Farm in upstate New York, a once-cherished national institution and symbol of the American Dream. Built from found footage and buried family secrets, the film unlocks the extraordinary saga of two families – the Lindemanns, who want to create the greatest collection of rare animals in America, and the Hecks, a German zoological dynasty with a deeply unsavoury past.

The film is produced by Dorothy Street Pictures and Quite Contrary Pictures/Fifth Season. It is directed by the brilliant Tim Travers Hawkins, produced by Julia Nottingham and Melanie Archer, and exec produced by Vicki alongside Mandy Chang and Mary Lisio.

Vicki is a Broadcast and RTS award-winning and BAFTA, Amnesty, and Grierson-nominated filmmaker. Her recent projects include ANATOMY OF LIES (Dorothy St Pictures for Peacock), PLANET SEX WITH CARA DELEVIGNE (Naked/Freemantle for Hulu/the BBC) and WHAT’S THE MONARCHY FOR? (The Garden for the BBC).

For screening times and tickets at Tribeca, click here and for SXSW London, click here.