'Hen' Is a Survival Story Starring Eight Real Birds, With No CGI
Every hunter and every hunted animal in György Pálfi's new film, 'Hen', is a real animal. The film was made without CGI, according to Variety's review, which was published on 14 November 2026.
The story follows a resourceful hen. A pursuing fox forces her across a busy highway, and the film tracks her fight to survive after that. Variety describes 'Hen' as a creature feature.
The film opens on a cramped industrial farm in rural Greece. From there, the hen reaches a coastal smallholding, where a family runs a shabby café. Her journey takes her through a very different kind of place from the one she started in.
Eight birds share the lead role of the hen: Eszti, Szandi, Feri, Enci, Eti, Enikő, Nóra and Anett. All eight receive star billing in the closing credits. It is an unusual list to read at the end of a film, and it puts the animal performers where human stars usually sit.
The main character has no name and no voice from beginning to end. The story is told through what she does and where she goes, not through dialogue.
'Hen' premiered in the Platform competition at Toronto, and the jury gave it an honorable mention. Platform is the Toronto festival's section for films by directors in the middle of their careers, and its prizes are a useful signal for buyers looking for new work.
Pálfi has made films that reach far beyond their home country before. His earlier work includes 'Taxidermia', which was selected for Cannes in 2006, and 'His Master's Voice', a 2018 adaptation of work by Stanisław Lem. 'Hen' continues a run of films that are built around unusual choices.
What stands out most is the production itself. A film with no computer-made creatures depends on the animals, the people who train them, and the crew who film them. Every scene in 'Hen' is the result of those choices, made by people before the camera ever rolled.
