23rd edition November 20th to 28th, 2026
23rd edition
20 to 28 November, 2026
Ildikó Enyedi is an award-winning director and Academy Award nominee. My Twentieth Century, her first feature-length film, won the Caméra d’or at the Festival de Cannes. Magic Hunter was selected for competition at the Venice International Film Festival, and was followed by Tamas and Juli, which was also screened at Venice, and Simon the Magician, which won the FICC Special Prize at the Locarno Film Festival. After a long period of making short films, Enyedi returned to feature films with the Oscar-nominated On Body and Soul, which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, and The Story of My Wife, which competed at Cannes. Silent Friend premiered in Venice, where it was awarded the FIPRESCI Prize and the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor for Luna Wedler.
In the heart of a botanical garden in a medieval university town in Germany stands a majestic ginkgo tree. Over the course of a century and across three generations, this silent witness has observed the quiet rhythms of transformation in three human lives. In 2020, a neuroscientist from Hong Kong who is exploring the minds of babies begins an unexpected experiment with the old tree. In 1972, a young student is profoundly changed by the simple act of observing and connecting with a geranium. In 1908, through the lens of photography, the university’s first female student discovers sacred patterns of the universe hidden within the humblest of plants. The ancient ginkgo brings us closer to what it means to be human—to our longing to belong.
Director Ildikó Enyedi
Producer Reinhard Brundig, Monika Mécs, Nicolas Elghozi
Screenwriter Ildikó Enyedi
Cinematographer Gergely Pálos
Production Designer Imola Láng
Editor Károly Szalai
Sound Michael Schlömer
Music Gábor Keresztes, Kristóf Kelemen
Production Companies Pandora Film, Inforg-M&M Film, Galatée Films
International Sales Company Films Boutique