Project summary

Cultured Wars is a feature documentary investigating what actually happened to the cultivated meat industry, and what it means for the future of factory farming. In 2017, at the age of 25, I invested my life savings into Mosa Meat's Series A and became one of the youngest investors in cultivated meat's history. Nine years later, investment has fallen 94% from its 2021 peak, seven US states have banned the product outright, and there is still no cultivated burger on a supermarket shelf. Now I'm going back to find out whether I funded the future of food or the most expensive lie in its history. Travelling with me is my mother, who spent her career as a lobbyist for animal agriculture. She is the film's toughest critic, and the person I have to bring the answer home to.

What are this project's goals? How will you achieve them?

We have three main goals with Cultured Wars.

The first is to produce an honest account of where cultivated meat actually stands today. Coverage of cultivated meat has been either completely negative, not in depth, or industry funded. We will interview people and companies across the full spectrum: scientists still building it, founders whose companies raised hundreds of millions and collapsed, investors who lost money, and the ranchers and legislators who successfully banned it before it was ever available for sale.

The second is to reach an audience that existing advocacy does not. Decades of plant-based messaging have not moved global meat consumption, which is still projected to rise through 2050. A first-person story about money, family, and a broken promise from the cultivated meat industry reaches people who would never watch a documentary about factory farming or the food security risks in how we currently produce meat.

Third, and most importantly, make the case that the current food system has to change regardless of which technology wins. Whether the answer is cultivated meat, precision fermentation, plant-based, or something else, the film leaves audiences understanding why the status quo is neither humane nor sustainable.

Method: principal photography begins October 2026 at Mosa Meat in Maastricht, with a US production block in November covering California, the ban states, and the opposition. My mom travels with me to a few locations and is the film's (and my) toughest critic. Other names already confirmed for filming: GFI, Evergreen, Mission Barns, ex C-suite from Meatable, and more. Outreach to ranchers, lobbyists, etc will begin September 2026. 

How will this funding be used?

This campaign funds our first production trip in October and November 2026. We are asking for $5k minimum and $10k maximum on Manifund, not the full film's budget.

Our director has committed a $25k matching grant to Fauna Films, which matches external donations dollar for dollar through the end of 2026. So $5k raised here becomes $10k toward the trip, and $10k becomes $20k.

At $5k matched to $10k, we cover the October leg: Mosa Meat in Maastricht, former Meatable executives, and an ex-industry supplier now farming fish in Ireland. That gives us the founding company, the collapse, and the supply chain in one trip, enough to cut a rough sizzle for future fundraising efforts.

At $10k matched to $20k, we extend into the November US block, which is where the opposition and the American side of the industry live.

Funds go to travel, accommodation, crew for the shoots where I need to be on camera rather than behind it, and initial post toward a trailer we will use to raise the remaining budget. The full film is budgeted at $330k and we intend to return here for a larger ask once there is footage to show.

On structure and who benefits: the film is produced by Fauna Films, a US 501(c)(3), through a wholly-owned LLC. Donations are charitable and non-recoupable, meaning donors receive no equity or return. Our producer has a contingent participation in any eventual sale, which is standard for the role and disclosed here so nobody is surprised by it later. Full budget linked below.

Who is on your team? What's your track record on similar projects?

James Hoot, Director. Executive Director and co-founder of Fauna Films, a US 501(c)(3) documentary studio. My work focuses on food systems, largely in the Global South. Recent projects include Tumbuh di Khatulistiwa, a four-part Indonesian series on plant-based food heritage currently being pitched to Netflix, Viu, NatGeo and Vidio; The Last Steppe, shot in Mongolia and is in post-production, and Liberty, a US feature documentary currently in festivals. I filmed with Mosa Meat in 2018 for another film, and that archive now opens Cultured Wars. I am one of the earliest private investors in cultivated meat, which gives the project access and a personal stake no journalist could buy.

Erin Kim, Producer. Erin spent over a decade inside the world this film investigates. She was Communications Director at New Harvest, one of the foundational nonprofits of cellular agriculture, and Creative Director at Geltor, where she helped bring some of consumer biotech's first commercial products to market. Trained as a lawyer, she now advises founders and investors across biotech and food. She is not vegan and describes her position as hopeful skepticism, which makes her both a genuine check on my own bias and our route to subjects who would not otherwise talk to us.

Nicholas Bruckman, Executive Producer. Director of Minted, which premiered at Tribeca, broadcast on PBS Independent Lens, and was acquired by Netflix.

What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails?

We fail to raise the remaining budget. Most likely outcome. The documentary funding market has contracted sharply, and our natural donor base of animal advocacy funders has largely passed, because an honest investigation is not an advocacy piece. Mitigation: the first production trip is likely to be funded, and footage plus a trailer substantially improves our fundraising position. Having Nicholas Bruckman on the team will likely help significantly with donor and network conversations in the future. Outcome: a partially shot film that doesn’t reach the public eye. 

We get the believers but not the opposition. My background as an animal rights filmmaker makes some subjects likely to decline. Mitigation: collaborators with industry credibility make introductions, and my own position as an investor is disclosed on camera. Outcome: a film that only hears from one side, which would be both a worse film and one that's less honest.

The film gets made and reaches only the converted. This is an issue with a huge number of advocacy films. Mitigation: the first-person story, the family conflict, and the money angle are deliberately built for a general audience, and we have an executive producer with mainstream distribution experience. 

The answer turns out to be boring. Cultivated meat may simply remain small, slow, and unresolved, with no clean narrative payoff. This is genuinely possible. Mitigation: the broader argument about the food system does not depend on how the cultivated meat question resolves and we have a large number of confirmed characters already who were part of the cultivated meat industry and have left, who have compelling stories to tell. 

It’s well known that documentary impact is difficult to measure. The honest case is that this film reaches people existing interventions do not, at a cost comparable to a small research grant, with an unusually strong access position.

How much money have you raised in the last 12 months, and from where?

We've raised a $6k research grant from Who Let the Docs Out in July 2026 - https://www.docsout.org/ - and a $25k matching grant from the film's director that will match any contributions 1:1 until the end of 2026, up to $25k.

--

Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or would like to see our full deck - info@culturedwars.com

Full Budget:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1p20ao7VgIrcGmBD-qAhKwT1jwFMrC-hi/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=108488101602713031708&rtpof=true&sd=true