KOFFIA Short Film Comp Interview: "Human Meat Factory" with Anna Han

Check out our exclusive interview with KOFFIA 2013 Short Film Competition finalist Anna Han below! Buy your tickets to what will be an exciting short film session, screening August 25th in Sydney!

1. What / Who inspired you to join this competition? Why did you get into filmmaking? 

Hearing about a festival with Korean filmmakers in Australia was awesome, I love watching Korean films, they’re so honest and you get to see how unique the culture is. I got into films because I thought it was boring and dull for people to have the same career for their whole lives. When I’m making movies, I can be a sheep today, and a dinosaur tomorrow.

2. Can you tell us more about your film? What made you want to tell such a story?

At the start, I just wanted to use real people in a slaughterhouse. But Barbies are easier to manage and I could do whatever I want with them. And no need to fill out consent forms and shit like that. I didn’t become a vegetarian from watching a life scarring video of cows being slaughtered; I’m too much of a wuss. I think most people are like me, we’d rather not see all the horrible stuff going on. But unlike me, people become ignorant of suffering, cute animals and they keep eating them. So I made something that’s a bit easier to watch but still show the reality of it all. 

3. There are a lot of "bleeding" scenes in the human slaughterhouses, how did you manage your "barbies" during shooting? 

I used red toothpaste. Perfect consistency and harmless for my Barbies. It was more pain for me to slaughter the Barbies than it was for them. But I had one Ken to keep them all happy though and the few that survived at the end were donated to the Salvation Army so it was a win-win for all of us. 

4. Are you a vegetarian? To what extent do you think people should eat less meat and burgers? 

Yup, I’m a veggie. I think if people want to eat meat, they should grow a pair and hunt their own pigs and cows. Tigers don’t go to a supermarket to get their bacon. We’re animals too, we should play fair. And you can still have burgers if you are vegetarian. Veggie burgers are amazing.  

5. Were there any difficulties during the entire shooting? Which part did you enjoy most and why? 

I had never done stop motion before so it was a slow start. I barely slept and went slightly nutty. It sucked when I ran out of green tea. I had fun through the whole thing, I enjoyed disfiguring the Barbies and burning them, they were way too precious to do that as a child.

Thanks to Anna Han for the Interview!