Fresh Meat by Lu Asfaha

A young writer is excited to start a staff writing job at a cutthroat media company until she discovers their terrifying secret to success: they're eating people

  • Lu Asfaha
    Director
    Paladin, Freedom Summer
  • Lu Asfaha
    Writer
    Paladin, Dead End
  • Fonna Seidu
    Producer
    Promise Me, Toe The Line
  • Malaika Hennie-Hamadi
    Key Cast
    "Nia"
    Age of the Living Dead, Fear Thy Roommate
  • Michaela May Wright
    Key Cast
    "Genevieve"
    Neurovenge, The Intersection
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Horror, Satire
  • Runtime:
    16 minutes 55 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 15, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    44,765 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Canada
  • Country of Filming:
    Canada
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    ARRI Alexa Mini
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Denton Black Film Festival
    Denton, Texas
    January 29, 2022
    Texas Premiere
  • Outfest Fusion
    Los Angeles, California
    United States
    April 12, 2022
    California
  • Pan African Film Festival
    Los Angeles
    United States
    April 25, 2022
  • Ax Wound Film Festival
Director Biography - Lu Asfaha

Lu Asfaha is an award-winning Toronto filmmaker whose films cross genres to externalize the internal. In 2022 she was a resident of the CFC’s Norman Jewison Film Program Director’s Lab, where she wrote and directed short body horror SIGHT which had it’s world premiere at the 2023 Fantasia International Film Festival. Prior to that her short horror film FRESH MEAT screened at festivals across North America from Inside Out to BronzeLens. It then went on to broadcast nationally on CBC’s Canadian Reflections before winning Best Canadian Short at Regent Park Film Festival. Lu was BlueCat Screenplay’s 2022 Feature Winner and took home their Fellini Award for best international script for her upcoming feature film debut THEY ECHO. Lu directed 3 episodes of the East African-Canadian comedy series VIRGINS! which was released on CBC Gem in 2022, as well as 3 other short films; the CBC short documentary FREEDOM SUMMER, the fantasy short PALADIN, and the dark comedy DEAD END. She was previously a Hot Docs Film Festival Doc Accelerator Fellow, a Netflix-Banff Diversity of Voices pitch participant, a ScreenCraft finalist, and won the RBC Emerging Director Award at Regent Park Film Festival in 2019. Lu also has nearly a decade of experience as an editor and assistant
editor, working on the Critics Choice-nominated series SHINE TRUE and the CSA-winning documentaries MR. JANE & FINCH and BEING BLACK IN TORONTO.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

When I began working on "Fresh Meat" I was intrigued by the thematic possibilities of cannibalism, and what it could represent for me as a Black queer woman. I’m expected to make a particular kind of film for an imagined homogenous audience. But my communities are made up of unique, diverse people craving richer, more authentic stories. During the mass media layoffs of 2019, the connective tissue between cannibalism, capitalism, and media became apparent, exposing an industry always ready to cannibalize itself. Conversations about creating equity, especially in the media space, have been a constant thread over the last three years and this conversation and work will never stop being timely. Together, we can create an equitable world which wholly represents all of us. Fresh Meat boldly examines this relationship intimately while reconciling how it consumes us.