Silent Trees
Agnieszka Zwiefka / Poland, Germany & Denmark / 2024 / World Premiere / 84 min
A 16-year-old Kurdish refugee girl is stranded in an icy pine forest between Belarus and Europe with her family in a dirty political power play. She has only one choice: to grow up in an instant and save her family.
In 2021, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko opens a new migration route. By issuing tourist visas to refugees and promising them access to Europe through the forest, he encourages them to flee to Europe. In response, neighbouring Poland closes the European border and does not allow journalists or aid organisations into the area, even though the lack of food, water and medical care is acute. The refugees are trapped in an icy borderland with no way to enter the EU or return to Belarus. This is where ‘Silent Trees’ starts. 16-year-old Kurdish girl Runa and her family, fleeing ISIS, have made it to the icy, wild pine forest at the border. But everything changes overnight when her mum freezes to death. Runa must make a quantum leap from child to adult to care for her four younger brothers and her depressed father, and try to establish a new life in an increasingly nationalistic Poland. Just as her dream of returning to school comes true, the threat of repatriation looms. In her sketchbook, Runa vents her feelings and her drawings are brought to life in animated sequences.