Cluck-Cluck: György Pálfi’s TIFF Title ‘Hen’ Gets Domestic Distribution Deal
EXCLUSIVE: Hot on the heels of acquiring Gabriel Mascaro’s Silver Bear winner The Blue Trail and the distributor’s four Independent Spirit nominations for Blue Sun Palace, New York-based distro Dekanalog has acquired U.S. rights to György Pálfi’s TIFF title Hen.
The “tragicomic thriller”, which features a Leghorn chicken in its title role, will make its U.S. premiere in January at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. The U.S. theatrical release will be followed by VOD and physical launches.
Told entirely from the viewpoint of a hen who has escaped from a chicken farm, Hen‘s plucky heroine finds refuge in the courtyard of a crumbling restaurant with ties to a human smuggling ring. There, she discovers love, confronts the pecking order, and fights to protect her eggs from a greedy owner.
Pic stars Yannis Kokiasmenos, Maria Diakopanayotou, and Argyris Pandazaras, as well as eight Leghorn chickens playing the titular lead. Pic is written by Pálfi and Zsófia Ruttkay. Hens were trained and cared for by Árpád Halász. Sales for the title are being handled by Lucky Number.
“We at Dekanalog have long admired Pálfi’s visionary work and are honored to take part in his latest cinematic adventure,” said Sam Wunderl, partner at Dekanalog. “Hen is simultaneously an exciting thriller, a comic caper, and, for a story about a chicken, an unforgettable story about humanity. We cannot wait to bring it to U.S. screens next year.”
The filmmaker, who has previously partnered with Dekanalog on a number of U.S. releases, was celebrated last year by the distributor and Brooklyn Academy of Music with the retrospective series I Will Not Be Your Friend: The Films of György Pálfi.
