Pamfir

When reformed ex-smuggler Pamfir returns to home to his village on the Ukrainian border after working abroad for several years, he’s determined to earn an honest living and set a good example for his beloved teenage son Nazir. But in a town where corruption runs deep and crime and religion are inextricably linked, his plan is quickly thwarted when Nazir sets fire to the local church in a misguided effort to keep him at home. To pay for the damage, Pamfir must take on one last job for a crime syndicate operating a risky smuggling venture in a country where all the rules have changed.

Part drama, part thriller, part noir-inflected fairytale, Pamfir is violent, raw and bloody but also a tender portrait of a family man trying to raise his son well despite his own shady past. Shot in long takes and set amid forests swirling with mist in the run-up to the traditional ‘Malanka’ carnival — a wild pagan festival featuring straw costumes, wooden masks and centuries-old rites and traditions — this is a propulsive, genre-defying debut exploring the thin line between good and evil and fate vs free will in our complex modern world.

Genre: Drama, Thriller, Noir