A group of German labourers come to work in the godforsaken Bulgarian hinterland. Visiting a foreign country arouses the men’s sense of adventure. But due to language barriers and cultural differences between the outsiders and the locals, tensions begin to rise. What’s more, conflicts flare up among the Germans themselves, which escalate when two of them try to woo the same woman. As its title makes clear, Western is an intriguing variation on a contemporary western, complete with the genre’s classic visual tropes (long, slow shots of broad horizons and wilderness), standard plotline and familiar characters (mysterious stranger/cowboy arrives in unfamiliar territory). Western was screened at this year’s Cannes FF in the Un Certain Regard section.