In the beginning was the hen that laid the egg. Hen is a film about a chicken, humans, and relationships. The film follows a chicken’s accidental escape from a factory farm to the countryside. The film’s protagonist is a dark chicken. In reality, there are eight main actors: Eszti, Szandi, Feri, Enci, Eti, Eniko, Nora,…

In a new Romanian and Kosovan film, Eastern Europe is exactly as it is imagined to be in the West: poor and without prospects. But when the gaze comes from within the region, the stereotype turns into a mirror. Who does the work that a wealthier Europe depends on? Potholed roads and stray dogs. Chickens.…

Sometimes — especially after a film experienced in a theater — the world, the city lights, the wind on your face, riding your old bicycle, or hovering on the threshold of sleep in the darkness of a studio apartment can suddenly feel new, different. There are imperceptible forces in the world to which cinema can…

Marjo Pipinen does not exactly hold the most power in the Nordic film industry, even though she works for the Finnish Film Foundation. There, Pipinen operates as a communications specialist. This year, however, Pipinen has a responsibility worth 40 000 euros on her shoulders. That sum is shared among directors, screenwriters and producers of the…

A film is a snapshot of its time, a mirror of reality. Beings from various eras – ideas, atmospheres, shared experiences and crises – are recorded into a film among other art mediums. The ecological crisis, admittedly our most complicated and expansive shared threat, year after year, increasingly defines what sorts of films we make…