Porcupine

The sight of abandoned urban ruins is ubiquitous in contemporary cinema and art – especially since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Porcupine evokes the fragmented tale of a young man who breaks into an empty hospital to set up his online broadcast of poses and provocations; his audience includes real-life participants with anonymous tags like 'bigballnz' and 'romeoazteca'. Porcupine is a sombre but hypnotic portrait with glimpses of human compassion. (International Film Festival Rotterdam)