Behind The Scenes

One day, a well-known saying, “you are what you eat,” caught Chenglin’s interest. He sketched some characters who literally transform into the food they love most—growing fish tails, chicken combs, and cow horns. As he drew, he realized that when people only indulge in their favorite foods, they are also indulging their desires, and this behavior not only twists their physical appearance but also their inner selves.

This led him to envision a small town where everyone eats only their favorite food, turning into those foods and suffering the consequences—fish tails become itchy, cows attract annoying flies, and those who love chicken legs turn into chickens. These transformations are something they hate, but how will they choose? At this point, an outsider arrives with a new possibility, but will this bring a solution or drive villagers even more troubled?

MEAL ON THE PLATE premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival
and was selected for nearly 50 frontier film festivals, with over a dozen
being Academy Award-qualifying. It also won awards including  the
Best Animated Short at the 16th FIRST Film Festival,  and earning
Chenglin his second Golden Dragon Award