Alexey Estigneev

Alexey Evstigneev was born in Shatura, Russia. He now lives and works in France. He graduated from VGIK in Moscow and earned a Master’s degree in Film from the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, Czech Republic. His short documentary, “The Golden Buttons” (2020), was selected for the European Academy Awards and won the IDFA Talent Award at Visions du Réel. In 2022, he directed the animated short film “Father’s Letters,” which won awards and was selected for over a hundred festivals. His second animated short film, “A Small Man,” earned him the Lagardère Animation Author Grant in 2024. In 2025, Alexey directed “Habibi,” his first live-action short film, with support from the CNC, the Pays de la Loire region, and France 3. The film has just been selected for the Warsaw Film Festival and the Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival. As part of his residency, Alexey worked on his first feature-length fiction film, titled “Meat.”

Meat

Annual Selection 2025

In a world where all the inhabitants of the small seaside town of “N” feed on human flesh, the son of Vera, an assembly-line worker at a meat-processing plant, is the victim of a serious car accident. According to the law, to pay for the necessary medical care and save him, Vera and her husband Igor must find a “hero” willing to sacrifice themselves and be turned into ground meat as payment. Confronted with the dark side of the system, Vera’s convictions begin to waver. She finds herself facing a crucial choice: to remain safe, in the comfort of a narrow but monstrous world, and continue to eat human flesh, or to risk everything she holds dear to reclaim her freedom.