MIFF: HEN

A chicken crosses the road and discovers adventure on the other side in this offbeat, moving and utterly unique bird’s-eye view on the suffering of the world.

A poultry transport driver steals a factory-farmed hen, planning to put her in a tasty soup. When he stops his truck at a servo, she escapes, evading a hungry fox and braving a busy highway before getting cooped up in a run-down seaside restaurant. All she wants is to find a safe nest to brood her own chicks – but as she repeatedly strives to find out what becomes of her eggs, she encounters a world in which hens aren’t the only creatures to be exploited.

Fans of animal-centred dramas like Andrea Arnold’s Cow (MIFF 2021) and Jerzy Skolimowski’s EO (MIFF 2022) – or even the Oscar-winning animation Flow (MIFF 2024) – will adore this feathery fancy from György Pálfi (Taxidermia, MIFF 2006). Filmed vividly at chook’s-eye level, its allegory is compelling but never didactic, witty without being gimmicky. There are no animatronics or CGI – just thrilling action and set pieces that need to be seen to be believed, along with the genuine emotion that the inimitable Hungarian auteur draws from an all-star flock of trained birds.

“A tour de force in terms of its mise en scène … It’s a funny, animal-focused ‘coming of age’ tale with no shortage of comic overtones, which casts a very serious sidelong glance at human morality.” – Cineuropa

Unclassified 15+