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A pro-vegan film which highlights issues of animal suffering in food production has won won first place and a $3,000 cash prize from the Tarshis Short Film Awards.
The film, which was created by Dustin Brown for non-profit organization Last Chance for Animals (LCA), features three friends in a not-so-distant and dark future who must slaughter the animals they order for dinner at a high-end restaurant.
In 2018, LCA and Brown won the Tarshis Short Film Awards second place prize for ‘Food for Thought’ that examines the line drawn between pets and food.
Animal suffering
“Last year, I had the opportunity to write and direct a PSA for Last Chance for Animals,” filmmaker Dustin Brown told Plant Based News. “It was a great experience, and the film was awarded at the Animal Film Festival. So we wanted to do it again and try to push the limits of what we’ve done before.
“The first inkling of this story began with the question, ‘what if you had to kill your own food?’ That got me thinking about a restaurant in the not-so-distant dark future that offers a high-end experience curated to a certain clientele who want to kill their own food.
“In doing research for the film, I realized it’s not such a far-fetched idea. There are already some restaurants and hotels that do this – that allow their guests to hunt their food for the hotel to cook and serve.”
Short film Casa De Carne
Making people think
According to Brown, who is inspired by The Twilight Zone TV series and Philip K. Dick novels, he wants to ‘make people think and question their everyday reality’.
“So much of our daily lives are disconnected from nature and the systems of oppression and exploitation that are largely hidden from us,” he told PBN. “Film is a powerful tool to pull back the curtain.”
“Now more than ever, we need stories that expand our circle of empathy and allow us to see the world through a more compassionate lens. It’s easy to use our differences as starting points for conflict: different race, different religion, different country… different species. And yet, we’re all sharing this planet. Our similarities far outweigh our differences. That’s what this film is about.”
Raise awareness
“We’re glad to have a second opportunity to start important conversations about creating a more humane world at the Animal Film Festival,” added Chris DeRose, LCA President and Founder.
“This festival is a great platform to raise awareness about how animals are exploited for profit. We’re grateful to the festival and the Tarshis Foundation for their commitment to these issues.”
