Tina is a Swedish customs guard with a nose for trouble. Got some illicit alcohol stashed? She’s on it. Feeling guilty over some pictures on your phone? Her sense of smell can pick up on that too. Respected by colleagues but derided by the public for her unconventional looks, Tina is led by her extraordinary schnoz to a side gig with local police, tracking down a crime ring. Always an outsider, Tina has her world rocked when the equally striking-looking Vore appears out of the blue. The fascination is instant, the attraction animalistic, but is Vore a benevolent force or something more sinister? And is the world ready for Tina’s true nature?

Based on a novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, whose Let the Right One In also played with morality and identification, Border provokes audiences with the push-pull of disgust and desire, yet always keeps its sympathies on the side of the misfit. Winning the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes, Iranian-Swedish director Ali Abbasi has crafted a daring contemporary folktale that’s full of surprises. The less you know going in the better, but expect big laughs, thrills and a highly original treatment of gender ‘borders’, beauty and sexuality. 

- Kate Taylor, BFI London Film Festival