SILENT FRIEND

Synopsis

In the heart of a botanical garden in a medieval university town in Germany stands a majestic ginkgo tree. This silent witness has observed over a century the quiet rhythms of transformation across three human lives.
2020. A neuroscientist from Hong Kong, exploring the mind of babies, begins an unexpected experiment with the old tree.
1972. A young student is profoundly changed by the simple act of observing and connecting with a geranium.
1908. The university’s first female student discovers, through the lens of photography, sacred patterns of the universe hidden within the humblest of plants.
We follow their clumsy, awkward attempts to connect – each one of them deeply rooted in their own present – as they are transformed by the quiet, enduring, and mysterious power of nature. The ancient ginkgo tree brings us closer to what it means to be human – to our longing to belong.

Statement of the director

It is a film made by humans (by an amazingly open-minded, dedicated team) for fellow humans – the spectators. We humbly acknowledge and embrace our specific perceptual limits. This film speaks with the help of light and sound waves available for the human eyes and ear of world perceptions outside these limits. We acknowledge that we are not the default – ours is one of the many, equally valid worlds.
What is it like to be a tree? We don’t know. So, we won’t show it. Instead, we show human curiosity, touchingly imperfect attempts of connecting, of acknowledging the “other” and accepting that for them we are the mysterious “other”.
We show glimpses through more than 100 years of the botanical garden of a university. A place which was always (“universitas”) the hub of free and limitless human curiosity, of science. In times when it is so dangerously questioned and attacked, we would also like to draw attention, not only to the importance but also the beauty and the naive, daring force of scientific research. It can help us walk down from the frighteningly dizzy spot on top of the pyramid to a place better deserved and more homey – to be part of this world.

Review

Screen International Review