Silent Trees / Drzewa milcza
country, year
Poland, Germany, Denmark, 2024
genre
documentary
running time
84’
directed by
Agnieszka Zwiefka
languages
Polish, Kurdish, English
subtitles
English and Slovenian
about the film
When her mother dies in the forest on the Polish-Belarusian border, a 16-year-old Kurdish girl Runa has to quickly grow up to take care of her 4 younger brothers and helpless, depressed father. The family deals with trauma in a refugee camp and tries to establish a new life in Poland. Runa’s greatest fear is being forced to return to Iraq, where Kurds face the threat of ISIS. She wants to live like her newfound European friends and become a lawyer. But just as her dream of going back to school comes true, another threat appears – the threat of deportation. Runa’s escape from everyday problems is a sketchbook filled with drawings that express what she feels. Gradually, her drawings come to life. The film is a partially animated coming of age story in the times of the global refugee crisis.
about the author
Agnieszka Zwiefka is an award-winning filmmaker. Her films „The Queen of Silence“ (2014) and „Scars” (2020) were screened at festivals worldwide. In her films she balances between reality and fantasy, creating hybrids that cross the border between documentary and fiction. Member of European Film Academy (EFA). Alumna of workshops Dok.Incubator, ScripTeast, Nipkow Programme and Berlinale Talents as well as Meryl Streep’s and Nicole Kidman’s The Writers Lab.
filmography:
- 2024 Silent Trees
- 2023 Vika!
- 2020 Scars
- 2014 The Queen of Silence
