EXCLUSIVE: Naomi Ackie, Alison Oliver, Éanna Hardwicke and Armande Boulanger are leading the cast of To Make Ends Meat, the second feature from Hoard filmmaker Luna Carmoon, which wrapped a six-week shoot in and around London last month.
To Make Ends Meat follows three women, all in debt to despicable men, their pasts, and each other. The women find themselves bargaining to survive in the only language these men seem to understand: consumption and violence.
Goodfellas is handling international sales and will launch the film at Cannes, with True Brit holding UK-Ireland distribution rights.
The film reunites Carmoon with Hoard producers Helen Simmons of Erebus Pictures and Loran Dunn of Delaval Film, with Cheri Darbon and Chloe Culpin as co-producers. La Chimera and Rocks director of photography Helene Louvart shot the film.
The film is financed by BBC Film, the BFI, True Brit, Goodfellas, Mother, ProdCo, Arts Alliance, Affine Films, Cofiloisirs and Blush Film.
“This film has come from the belly of my soul, of all things, tar and family,” said Carmoon. “From my grandmother’s experiences in Newington Lodge, to my mother Toni and the cleaning houses she took me to where darker things lingered, to teddies and chicken farms.
“So much of my family and our memories seep deeper than you’d think. I cannot think of a more prevalent time than now to paint and stitch and weave to screen, it is my rage that has fuelled this. The weatherings of being a woman and how you are cannibalised by systems, by men, women and then by debts we sometimes write ourselves into because we believe we deserve it so.
“This has been made with all my blood, figuratively and yes, physically all of me. I hope I know it will rupture, splinter and cry to us all when it is stitched together.”
“We are so excited to announce this film and to soon share it with the world,” said Simmons and Dunn. “To Make Ends Meat is hugely ambitious, dripping in genre, and deeply resonant to our times, and we’ve no doubt it will deliver a one-of-a-kind cinematic experience thanks to Luna’s unique vision.
“We’ve been so lucky to once again be supported by BBC Film and the BFI and are immensely grateful for the way they’ve championed the project from the very beginning. We are also very grateful to Film London, as we met two of our partners, Arts Alliance and True Brit, at last year’s Production Finance Market, and are thrilled to be partnering with Goodfellas for the first time – we are huge admirers of their taste and work and know they are the perfect fit for To Make Ends Meat.”
“Luna is outrageously talented,” said BBC Film’s Kristin Irving. “It’s a privilege to support her and her producers once again as she conjures her vision on a grand, blood-soaked, cinematic canvas with an extraordinary cast and crew.”
“Luna is a natural-born filmmaker, with a singular perspective shaped by watching, living and absorbing,” said Mia Bays, director of the BFI Filmmaking Fund. “We are thrilled to be supporting her on another extraordinary cinematic journey, following the one we took with her on Hoard, and before that with her shorts.”
Carmoon, Simmons, Dunn, Ackie, and Oliver have all previously been named Screen UK-Ireland Stars of Tomorrow, with Hardwicke named in the Rising Stars Ireland showcase.
Carmoon’s debut feature Hoard premiered in the independent Critics’ Week sidebar at Venice in 2023, winning three prizes including the audience award. It was nominated for six British Independent Film Awards and the Bafta for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer in 2025. Since its festival debut, Carmoon has also directed three music videos for Irish rock band Fontaines D.C.
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