Shu Lea Cheang's 1994 Film "Fresh Kill" Examines Environmental Racism and Queer Family Through a Cyberpunk Lens

Summary

This article profiles Taiwanese American filmmaker Shu Lea Cheang and her 1994 debut film "Fresh Kill," a queer ecofeminist cyberpunk cult classic. The film follows a lesbian couple, Shareen and Claire, and their daughter Honey living in a polluted Staten Island industrial zone. When their daughter ingests contaminated tuna from a multinational corporation, the family goes on the run. The article explores how the film's themes of environmental racism, corporate greed, queer family structures, and surveillance capitalism feel remarkably prescient decades later. Cheang discusses her DIY approach to filmmaking, the film's exploration of toxicity and community, and how her background as a multimedia artist shaped the work. The piece also touches on the film's recent restoration and re-release through Criterion.

Source

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