Silent Friend
Synopsis
Standing in a botanical garden, a hundred-year-old gingko tree shares its memories spanning more than a century, pausing in 1908, 1972 and 2020. Grete tries to find her place in a world that tries to make her invisible. Decades later, Hannes discovers love at the same time as botany. During a pandemic, Tony converses with the same tree in a very intimate language. Around it, people cross paths, search for each other, and transform. The gingko tree, immutable, connects the ages and reminds us of the fragile alliance between humans, science and the living.
By adopting the perspective of a centenarian tree, and thus completely shifting its focus, Ildikó Enyedi’s new film offers a delightful sensory immersion into three distinct eras, in which humans’ relationship with nature resonates with feminist, environmental and deeply intimate concerns.
Cast/Avec
- Tony Leung Chiu-wai
- Luna Wedler
- Léa Seydoux
Screenplay
- Ildikó Enyedi
- Tina Kaiser
Cinematographer
- Gergely Pálos
Sound
- Jérôme Wiciak
Music
- Kristóf Kelemen
- Gábor Keresztes
Age classification
- 16+
Screenings
Trailer and photos
Ildikó ENYEDI
Born in 1955 in Budapest, Ildikó Enyedi studied in France and Hungary. After several short films, she directed her first feature, My Twentieth Century, which earned the Caméra d’Or at Cannes in 1989. On Body and Soul won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale in 2017. Ildikó Enyedi has become a major figure of contemporary Hungarian cinema and has presided several international film festival juries, including the Short Film Jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023.
Filmography
- Silent Friend 2025
- My Fear in My Arms (short film) 2023
- The Story of My Wife 2021