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Logline

Suzanne, a seemingly perfect wife, has a secret: she’s obsessed with grade A meat, and the local butcher who knows how to handle it. When her dream of a chance encounter comes true, Suzanne is met with a surprise that upends her sense of self.

Synopsis

In The Flesh follows SUZANNE, a homemaker with an erotic fixation on her butcher and his expert handling of flesh…a skill that stands in sharp contrast to the rote sex-life she shares with her husband, TOM. To make matters more complicated, the butcher, unbeknownst to our protagonist, is trans-masculine, and Suzanne is not exactly LGBTQ+ aware – in fact she’s overtly dismissive of her non-binary teenager’s gender identity, RUTH.

Things come to a head when Tom invites TRACY, his estranged adult niece, to dinner. Suzanne visits her butcher and prepares a prime cut exactly how he suggests. Later, when the doorbell rings, she’s met with a shocking surprise. This mystery family member is in fact the butcher – the butcher is Tracy. As the evening progresses, Suzanne must navigate her conflicting desires, face her prejudices, and acknowledge a deep-seated longing for something more.
 

Meet the Filmmakers

Emily Frances Kaplan – Writer/Director
Emily is a writer and director with a background in theater and visual art. She began her career in film as a designer, working with acclaimed filmmakers including Gaspar Noé and Rick Alverson. She’s written and directed short films, including Spare Parts (2019) and The Agent (2022). Her shorts have played Academy Award qualifying festivals including Atlanta and Austin, won numerous awards, and been featured Vimeo Staff Picks. Her script V Is For Victoria was a quarterfinalist for the 2023 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science’s Nicholl Fellowship. She continues to work as animator, with recent projects including contributions to the feature documentaries AUM (Sundance 2023) and Duty Free (PBS 2020).

Tory Lenosky – Producer
Tory is a Nebraska raised, New York based award winning producer. She most recently produced the 2022 New York Times Critic’s Pick feature film Resurrection (Sundance 2022). Other credits include the Netflix comedy special, Nightclub Comedian starring Aziz Ansari, The Hater (Sundance Director Lab Project 2019 with Joey Ally, Meredith Hagner, and Bruce Dern), Lost Transmissions (Tribeca Film Festival 2019, with Simon Pegg and Juno Temple), and Loitering with Intent, (Tribeca Film Festival 2014, with Marisa Tomei and Sam Rockwell). Tory was awarded the 2023 Film Independent Spirit Awards Producers Award. She was nominated for an Emmy for the short film Humankinda.

Breanne Thomas – Producer
Breanne is a Brooklyn based producer whose award-winning shorts have played MoMA, Rotterdam, Fantasia, Champs-Élysées, Palm Springs, and several American regional festivals. Most recently, she was an associate producer on India Donaldson’s debut feature Good One (Sundance ’24). Breanne is a 2021 Sundance Producers Intensive Fellow and a 2022 Gotham Week Project Market participant.

Nona Catusanu-Popp – Director of Photography/Executive Producer
Born in Romania and raised in NYC, Nona Catusanu-Popp is a cinematographer and visual artist. She graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts with a Bachelor’s degree in Film + TV and went on to study in the Cinematography Master’s Program at The Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU) in the Czech Republic. She is a recipient of the ASC Vision Mentorship Award, a founding member of Illium Pictures. She also currently serves on the advisory board of Pano and is a member of the International Cinematographers Guild.

Chris C. Rand – Editor
Chris Rand is a NYC-based film and television editor. His latest work can be seen in the Apple TV+ limited series The Crowded Room and the HBOMax limited series The Staircase. Other recent projects include contributing to the Netflix film Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and editing two seasons of the MGM+ series Godfather of Harlem. Chris lives in Brooklyn with his wife Abby and dog Marlow.

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Contact

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