"Strange, enrapturing, simultaneously vast and minute, Enyedi’s latest spends a lot of time considering how we perceive our surrounding flora — but just as much on how it perceives us, which is where it starts to get a bit special, and even a bit sexy." - Guy Lodge, Variety
"Enyedi is a master stylist who knows how to create a certain mood, mixing visual poetry with deadpan humor, and big ideas with quotidian foibles, in a film that explores our mysterious relationship with both the green world and one another." - Jordan Minter, The Holllywood Reporter
Opens May 22 | Directed by Ildikó Enyedi, (ON BODY AND SOUL), SILENT FRIEND is an epic, awe-inspiring exploration of the natural world. At the heart of a German university grows a majestic ginkgo tree, its lifespan measured in centuries. As the years pass, the distinguished plant bears witness to the private lives of those who seek shade under its boundless branches, forming a nexus that connects three generations of students and teachers across time and space. In 2020, a visiting neuroscientist conducts a series of experiments into the possibilities of botanical consciousness. In 1972, a young student is profoundly changed by studying the behavior of a simple geranium. And in 1908, the university’s first female student’s photographic inquiries reveal sacred patterns of the universe hidden within the humblest of plants. Over time, each is transformed by the quiet, enduring, and mysterious power of nature. . Featuring an ensemble cast that includes Tony Leung, Léa Seydoux and Venice Prize-winning newcomer Luna Wedler, Enyedi crafts a thoughtful meditation on the essential question of what it means to be human. Opens exclusively at the Siskel Film Center.
Awards & Nominations
2025 Venice Film Festival - FIPRESCI Prize
2025 Chicago International Film Festival - Gold Hugo
The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu