Silent Friend

An old tree stands in the middle of a botanical garden. It is solitary, just like the garden’s other inhabitants—thousands of kilometers away from their original habitats, so that we can admire and observe them. Just as we observe them, they observe us as well. They bear witness to our short, tangled, noisy, and turbulent lives.

Ildikó Enyedi’s film tells three stories—three tentative encounters between humans and plants— when these two radically different modes of perception truly connect for a moment. Human heroes, just like the plants in the garden, are outsiders, lonely souls. And they long for connection just as much as the plants do.

Director:

Ildikó Enyedi

Producers:

Mónika Mécs, Reinhard Brundig

Writer:

Ildikó Enyedi

Director of Photography:

Gergely Pálos

Editor:

Károly Szalai

Composers:

Gábor Keresztes, Kristóf Kelemen

Cast:

Luna Wedler, Tony Leung, Léa Seydoux, Sylvester Groth, Yun Huang, Luca Valentini