The Silent Friend

Is it possible to make friends with a tree and change your life with it?

In the award-winning film Ildikó Enyedi (“Soul and Body”) at the Venice Film Festival, this question becomes the beginning of a mesmerizing, emotional journey. “The Silent Friend” invites you to a world where people are able to establish deep relationships with nature and communicate with it beyond words. It is a meditation film that envelops in peace and fills with power.

In the heart of the university botanical garden grows a stately Japanese ginkgo (gingko biloba), which over the centuries becomes a mute witness and participant in the story of three strangers. A determined girl fights for a place in the botany department, seeking refuge in the shade of a tree from the prejudices of the male-dominated world of science. A lonely student who has never paid attention to plants finds a foothold in his silent presence after the turmoil of life. The Hong Kong neurologist (in this role, known for the films of Wong Kar-Wai Tony Leung), under the influence of contact with a tree, begins to question his scientific beliefs, discovering a deep connection between the visible and the elusive.

“The Silent Friend” is a film that soothes, inspires and opens our eyes to what escapes our attention on a daily basis. It allows you to immerse yourself in a story full of serenity, beauty and emotional depth, which reminds us how powerful contact with nature has on us. It's a moving story about the bonds that transcend the boundaries of human understanding — and how sometimes we can find our most faithful friend where we least expect it.