Filming for Ildikó Enyedi's new feature took place in Germany in early summer. For her seventh full-length film, the Hungarian director is once again relying on the power of nature. She has written three different episodes that are linked by a common narrative element. All of the stories describe how plants influence and shape the lives of the film's protagonists. A tree will be one of the most important characters, too. In keeping with this theme, one of the film's main locations was the botanical garden in the central German city of Marburg. For other scenes, the team also visited Cologne, in the west of the country.

The screenplay for Silent Friend (working title) spans a period of almost 100 years. The three stories take place in different eras: 1908, 1972 and 2020. For the final sequence, the director teamed up with renowned Hong Kongese actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai (The Grandmaster [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film], In the Mood for Love). He plays a well-known neuroscientist who is travelling from his home in Hong Kong to Marburg. This is the first collaboration between the director and the actor. Enyedi's long-standing esteem for the veteran thesp was more than confirmed through this joint project, she says. “I was absolutely humbled that from the first read of the script, he became such a great partner in terms of thinking not just about his role, but also about the whole project.”

As for the rest of the cast, a clutch of European names have joined the project. Besides French actress Léa Seydoux (The Second Act [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film], The Beast [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Bertrand Bonello
fiche film]), several German-speaking personalities with whom Enyedi has already worked on former projects have also boarded Silent Friend. They include Swiss actress Luna Wedler (who had a minor role in The Story of My Wife [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Ildikó Enyedi
fiche film]), and German actors Enzo Brumm, Sylvester Groth (The New End [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film]), Martin Wuttke (Berlin Alexanderplatz [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Burhan Qurbani
fiche film]), Marlene Burow (Someday We’ll Tell Each Other Everything [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Emily Atef
fiche film]), Jan Hofmann, Rainer Bock (Divided We Stand) and Johannes Hegemann (From Hilde, With Love [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Andreas Dresen
fiche film]). Behind the camera, the director has been working with cinematographer Gergely Pálos (Power [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film], Summer to Come).

Silent Friend is a Pandora Film (Germany), Galatée Films (France) and Inforg-M&M Film (Hungary) production, made in co-production with ZDF/ARTE, ARTE France Cinéma and Rediance. It has been funded, among others, by the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW and the DFFF. The film is expected to be ready in 2025, and will be distributed by Mozinet in Hungary and by Pandora Film in Germany. Films Boutique is selling it worldwide.

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