KinoTage: Ildikó Enyedi - Silent Friend + Q&A

A visually stunning, century-spanning meditation on the hidden bonds between humans and nature, told through the interwoven stories of three human lives transformed by the encounter with plants. 

We are delighted that director of the film, Ildikó Enyedi, will join us for a post-screening conversation.
  In the botanical garden of the medieval university town of Marburg, Germany, a majestic Ginkgo tree observes three human lives across more than a century. In 2020, Professor Wong, a neuroscientist arriving from Hong Kong just as the COVID-19 lockdown begins, turns his attention from studying the minds of babies to this ancient tree. In 1972, Hannes, a literature student and farm boy who has wanted to get away from plants, begins caring for a geranium as a favour to a girl he fancies and soon becomes fascinated by it. In 1908, Grete, the university's first female student, discovers hidden patterns in nature through photography. Like the lone female Gingko tree, they are solitary in their pursuit of developing unique methods of connecting to plants and are profoundly affected by their sensory encounters with another species.

Prompted by her producer to make a film about plants, Hungarian director Ildikó Enyedi expanded the initial idea into a complex exploration of the very different ways humans and plants perceive the world, yet connect with each other. The film is equally a reflection on different experiences and rhythms of time. While the protagonists, their scientific interests and methods are shaped by the historical periods in which they live, the Ginkgo tree endures through them all. Each era and its distinct atmosphere is captured through different visual formats: black and white 35mm film for the early twentieth century, grainy warm-toned 16mm film for the 1970s, and a digital aesthetic for the present day. Further enhancing the film's beauty and immersive sensory experience are techniques such as bird's-eye views, close-up photography, and time-lapse sequences that evoke the Ginkgo tree's sensations and responses. The tree, which Enyedi had known since the time when her husband, the German author and translator Wilhelm Droste, studied in Marburg, is undoubtedly the star of the film. Its supporting human cast is equally impressive, featuring internationally acclaimed actors Tony Leung and Léa Seydoux alongside German-speaking newcomers Luna Wedler and Enzo Brumm giving wonderfully refreshing performances.

Germany, France, Hungary, China 2025, colour, 147 mins. With English subtitles.
Written and directed by Ildikó Enyedi. With Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Luna Wedler, Enzo Brumm, Yun Huang, Sylvester Groth, Martin Wuttke, Johannes Hegemann, Rainer Bock, Léa Seydoux.

Festivals

Selection: Venice IFF, Italy, Main Competition (2025); Seminci – Valladolid IFF, Spain, Official Section (2025); Chicago IFF, USA, International Competition (2025); Thessaloniki IFF, Greece, Special Screenings (2025); Seattle IFF, USA, Official Selection (2026).

Awards

FIPRESCI Prize, Marcello Mastroianni Prize for Best Young Actress), Premio CinemaSarà, Edipo Re Award, Green Drop Award, Leoncino d'Oro Award – Cinema of UNICEF (Venice International Film Festival 2025); Grand Jury Prize, International Competition (La Roche-sur-Yon International Film Festival 2025, France); Silver Hugo for Best Cinematography (Chicago International Film Festival, 2025), Silver Ear, Green Spike Award (Valladolid International Film Festival 2025, Spain), Sloan Science on Screen Award (San Francisco International Film Festival, 2026)

About Ildikó Enyedi

Ildikó Enyedi was born in 1955 in Budapest and began her career as a conceptual and media artist. Between 1977 and 1985, she was a member of the artist group Indigo. She subsequently worked at the Béla Balázs Studio, the only independent film studio in Eastern Europe before 1989, as well as at the Studio of Young Artists. Her first feature film, My 20th Century (1989), won the Caméra d'Or for Best First Feature at Cannes. Her next film, Magic Hunter (1994), competed at the Venice Film Festival, followed by Tamás and Juli (1997), which received a special screening in Venice, and Simon the Magician (1999), which won a special prize at the Locarno Film Festival.
After a long break from feature filmmaking, during which she worked for Hungarian television and directed the HBO Hungary series Terápia, she returned to cinema with On Body and Soul (2017). The film won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival and was selected as Hungary's entry for the Academy Awards. In 2021, she returned to the Cannes competition with The Story of My Wife. Among her many professional distinctions, she has served on the main juries of the Berlin International Film Festival (1990 and 2021) and the Venice Film Festival (2018) and was President of the Short Film Jury at Cannes in 2024. Enyedi is a member of both the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the European Film Academy. She is married to the German author and translator Wilhelm Droste and lives in Budapest.