A short film in development
EATME
A shared meal can carry love, memory and tradition. It can also hide the life taken to make it.
Photo: August de Richelieu / Pexels
ContinueA personal starting point
What happens when care and harm sit at the same table?
I try to live without animal products because I care about animals and want to avoid causing unnecessary harm.
While writing EAT ME, I kept returning to a contradiction. A family meal can be an expression of affection, memory and tradition. At the same time, it can depend on an animal being killed—something the ritual of eating together often keeps out of sight.
The film begins when one person can no longer keep those realities separate. There is already a first draft. I am now looking for a writer and a co-director to help make the story, characters and visual language more precise.
Carlos MontenegroActor · Producer
Why now
A global reality,
seen through one family meal.
More than 80 billion land animals are slaughtered for meat globally each year. The figure does not include aquatic animals. EAT ME approaches that scale through one intimate story: the moment an ordinary meal becomes difficult to see in the same way.
FAO-based data and methodology ↗Visual and sonic references
Three points
of reference.
These films are references for tone and craft, not models for the story. Together they suggest warmth, close observation and a physical experience of eating.
01
Call Me by Your Name
Natural light, food and unforced intimacy: the warmth of a memory before its meaning changes.
02
Aftersun
A camera attentive to ordinary gestures, allowing emotion to emerge without explaining everything.
03
The Substance
Texture, movement and sound make eating physical, excessive and impossible to ignore.
Film stills are shown as development references, not as imagery from EAT ME. Public use should be reviewed with the relevant rightsholders.
A possible timeline
How the film
could move forward.
This is the current working timeline. It may change as the creative team comes together and the funding plan becomes clearer.
Shape the screenplay and bring together the core team
Prepare the film
Shoot
Edit
Complete the film
Begin festival submissions
The project is now moving towards funding applications. After its festival life begins, I hope the film can continue through screenings and conversations with vegan communities and animal organisations. Funding and screening partnerships have not yet been confirmed.
Open positions
Writer
Co-director
Other
A first draft exists, but the screenplay and visual language are still open to meaningful collaboration.
I am looking for a writer to develop the story with me, and a co-director to help define how it should feel on screen. These are separate roles, although one person may be interested in both. If you feel you could contribute in another way, you are welcome to get in touch too.