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Berlinale Competition Horror 'Nightborn' Debuts as Rupert Grint Charts a Dark Post‑Potter Turn

Early reviews praise Hanna Bergholm’s folklore‑infused, practical‑effects portrait of new‑parent anxieties.

Overview

  • Nightborn premiered in the Berlin Film Festival’s competition on Feb. 14, directed by Hanna Bergholm and starring Seidi Haarla with Rupert Grint, with Goodfellas handling global sales.
  • The film follows Saga and her British husband Jon in an isolated Finnish forest as the arrival of their baby fractures their sense of safety and strains their marriage.
  • Critics describe an arthouse blend of folk and body horror that probes taboos around childbirth and postpartum experience through an ambiguous mix of metaphor and realism.
  • The production leans on tangible craft for the infant character Kuura, using puppets, animatronics, and multiple real babies rather than relying on CGI.
  • At the Berlinale press conference, Grint said he opposes the rise of fascism and will choose his moments to speak, while Bergholm and co-writer Ilja Rautsi urged artists to speak out against injustice.