Hen

“The first image of György Pálfi’s Hen – an extended close-up on a chicken’s cloaca as she lays an egg – might take the prize for the most arresting opening shot of 2025. It’s certainly a sight most cinephiles won’t have seen before.” - Little White Lies

A chicken’s-eye view of the world might not sound like the obvious setup for a tragicomedy, but Hen quickly proves otherwise. From György Pálfi (Hukkle), this unexpectedly gripping survival story follows one very determined chicken as she escapes the horrors of battery farming and navigates a world that’s not exactly designed with her in mind.

Finally she takes a strange kind of refuge in a crumbling Greek seaside restaurant where a very human drama is playing out, navigating both avian and human pecking orders - serving as a silent witness to the petty thievery and predatory figures that haunt the migrant crisis.

A genuine filmmaking feat, shot with real animals in real locations and set to a brilliant, offbeat score, Hen is as ambitious as it is unusual. And yes, the titular role is shared by eight leghorn chickens (Feri, Anett, Nora, Eti, Szandi, Enci, Eszter and Eniko), a cast list that somehow only adds to its charm.