Silent Friend
Southeast Asian Premiere
Ildikó Enyedi Germany, France, Hungary 2025 147 min M18 (Some Nudity and Drug Use)
A centuries-old ginkgo tree bears witness to three kindred spirits whose curiosity about nature pushes against the limits of their era.
An omnibus featuring the likes of Tony Leung and Léa Seydoux traces experiments with the natural world conducted by a curious person within a German university in three drastically different eras. In 1908, the first female science student discovers natural patterns of the universe through photography while she battles academic misogyny. In 1972, an awkward student tries to communicate with a geranium put in his care. In 2020, a neuroscientist is inspired to expand his research into babies’ minds to the plants who have become his main companions during lockdown. In each story, an ancient ginkgo biloba tree stands sentry and is drawn into the character’s quest for connection with nature and the people around them.
Filmed in different mediums – 35mm black and white in the 1908 period, 16mm in the 1972 period, and digitally for 2020 – to illustrate the flow of time texturally, Ildikó Enyedi’s enchanting and meditative universe centers non-human life as the calming constant and renders human-centred drama as the passer-by.
Synopsis Writer: Gabriel Goh
Q&A with Filmmaker(s)
29 Nov, Sat 7:00PM / 147 min
Golden Village Vivo Max
AT THE FEST!
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RUSH QUEUE:
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Silent Friend
Stille Freundin
Ildikó Enyedi
Germany, France, Hungary
2025
German, English
English
147 min
M18 (Some Nudity and Drug Use)
Southeast Asian Premiere
Ildikó Enyedi
Ildikó Enyedi is a Hungarian director best known for her humanistic explorations of tender encounters with each other and the world. Her film On Body and Soul (2017) won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. Silent Friend premiered at Venice and won multiple prizes, including the FIPRESCI Prize.
Tony Leung Chiu-wai,
Luna Wedler,
Enzo Brumm,
Yun Huang,
Sylvester Groth,
Martin Wuttke,
Johannes Hegemann,
Rainer Bock,
Léa Seydoux
Reinhard Brundig,
Monika Mécs,
Nicolas Elghozi,
Xie Meng,
Morgane Olivier
