"Searching for a universal story he could tell even when filming in a culture or country he didn't fully understand, he and co-writer and partner Zsofia Ruttkay settled on a biopic of a factory-farmed chicken. The hen escapes her gruesome, industrial birthplace in Greece and, through her naturally comic beady eyes, we witness the unfolding of a modern-day Greek tragedy, whereby a down-at-heel restaurateur is drawn into the brutal world of people-smuggling."
"Orban's 16 years of cronyism banished any chance of funding a film in Budapest, so Palfi who has directed eight wildly original films, from his near-wordless 2002 debut Hukkle to 2006's visually striking and grotesque Taxidermia was driven into exile."
"With no financial support available for independent film-making in Hungary, Palfi headed first to Mexico, gradually developing the idea of making his star a powerless chicken, through whose adventures would be woven a human story."
György Pálfi, an acclaimed Hungarian filmmaker known for visually striking and original works, was forced into exile due to Viktor Orbán's 16-year regime that eliminated funding for independent filmmaking. Unable to create in Budapest, Pálfi and co-writer Zsofia Ruttkay developed Hen, a unique film told from a factory-farmed chicken's perspective. The hen escapes her industrial Greek birthplace and witnesses a modern Greek tragedy involving a struggling restaurateur drawn into human smuggling. Pálfi sought a universal story transcending cultural boundaries that he could film anywhere. The film uses the chicken's naturally comic viewpoint to explore themes of powerlessness and survival, with human actors positioned beneath the chicken in the narrative hierarchy.
#hungarian-cinema #artistic-resistance #political-oppression #independent-filmmaking #creative-exile
Read at www.theguardian.com
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