SALES

SILENT TREES

DRZEWA MILCZĄ

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.

Genre: Documentary
Country: Germany, Poland
Running time: 84
Year: 2024
Color: colour

Director: Agnieszka Zwiefka

Script: Agnieszka Zwiefka

DOP: Kacper Czubak

Music: Niklas Paschburg

Editing: Michał Buczek

Sound: Franciszek Kozłowski, Daniel Adamczyk

Production company: Chilli Productions, ma.ja.de co-production HBO Max

Trailer

About the director:

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:

2014 The Queen of Silence

2020 Scars

2023 Vika!

At festivals:

CPH:DOX* | Copenhagen Int. Documentary Film Festival 2024, Denmark, 2024 (competition)

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival 2024, Canada, 2024 (competition)

39th Dok.fest Munchen 2024, Germany, 2024 (competition)

Docaviv - The 26th Tel Aviv International Documentary Film Festival (Israel, 2024), 2024 (Beyond the Screen Award)

64th Krakow Film Festival (Poland, 2024), 2024 (competition)

54th Giffoni Film Festival, Italy, 2024 (Best Documentary Award)

17th CinEast Central and Eastern European Film Festival, Luxembourg, 2024 (competition)

Berlin Kurdish Film Festival, Germany , 2024 (screening)

One World International Documentary Film Festival 2024, Slovakia, 2024 (screening)

43rd Cambridge Film Festival 2024, United Kingdom, 2024 (Youth Lab Jury Award)

Festival Film Dokumenter 2024, Indonesia, 2024 (competition)

24th Escales Documentaires – International Festival of Creative Documentary 2024, France, 2024 (competition)

21st Verzio International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival 2024, Hungary, 2024 (Special Mention)

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival PÖFF 2024, Estonia, 2024 (screening)

16th Eastern Neighbours Film Festival 2024, The Netherlands, 2024 (competition)

DUHOK International FIlm Festival 2024, Iraq, 2024 (competition)

ReFrame Film Festival 2025, Canada, 2025 (competition)

Slamdance Film Festival 2025, USA, 2025 (The Breakouts Feature Grand Jury Prize )

Dublin International Film Festival 2025, Ireland, 2025 (competition)

ArtDocFest/Riga 2025, Latvia, 2025 (competition)

Screening at Stadtkino Vienna 2025, Austria, 2025 (screening)

21st ZagrebDox - International Documentary Film Festival, Croatia, 2025 (competition)

Crossing Europe Film Festival 2025, Austria, 2025 (screening)

27. Przegląd Filmowy Kino na Granicy/Kino na Hranici, Czechia, 2025 (screening)

20th International Labor Film Festival, Turkey, 2025 (competition)

9th Aswan International Women Film Festival, Egypt, 2025 (Special Jury Prize)

4th Amsterdam Koerdish Film Festival 2025, The Netherlands, 2025 (Special Mention)

18th BELDOCS International Documentary Film Festival, Serbia, 2025 (screening)

Freiburger Filmforum – Festival of Transcultural Cinema, Germany, 2025 (screening)

22nd International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival Docudays, Ukraine, 2025 (competition)

Docs Ireland International Documentary Film Festival, UK, 2025 (competition)