NORTHERN CALIFORNIA PREMIERE
More than a food documentary, The End of Meat dares to ask the question, “What would the world look like if we didn’t eat meat?” The answer, of course, is an incredibly complex one touching upon climate change, human health, animal welfare, global biodiversity and more. And with 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions coming from farming, and nearly half of the globe’s land dedicated to it, director Mark Pierschel’s question is more than philosophical, it’s practical, and, many would argue, downright urgent. Sociologists, philosophers, activists, vegan revolutionaries and scientists building better meat weigh in on the future, but also the past and present, including the relationship between meat and masculinity and the dissonance created when steaks and heifers are simply called hamburgers.
On the way, we get to know the people and animals behind the movements, from online sensation Esther the Wonder Pig to groundbreaking scientists creating meat in petri dishes and lovers of seaweed that tastes like bacon. But perhaps most appealing, The End of Meat steers (no pun intended) clear of a preachy hard line approach to animal products and instead considers a future not only for vegans and vegetarians, but also for flexitarians—those of us who would like to continue an omnivorous lifestyle, but reduce our meat consumption. —Alexis Whitham
Marc Pierschel was born in 1978 in Hildesheim, Germany. After studying sociology and cultural studies, he filmed EDGE - perspectives on drug free culture, a documentary about the US American youth subculture of Straight Edge. In 2013, Live and Let Live followed - a documentary about the human-animal relationship and the history of the vegan movement. In the summer of 2015, Marc Pierschel accompanied the Berlin activist group 'Hard To Port' on a two-week campaign against commercial whaling in Iceland. The resulting documentation 184 gives an insight into the work of the activists, who are trying to document the brutal whale hunt off the coasts of Iceland. In his new film The End of Meat, Pierschel raises the question of a meatless world.
