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Agnieszka Zwiefka, Poland, Germany, Denmark 2024
Documentarian Agnieszka Zwiefka specializes in films that balance reality and fantasy, creating hybrids that blur the line between documentary and fiction. In her notes to the audience with her latest film SILENT TREES she explains, “It’s about giving voice to the voiceless and the showing of real humans behind global politics.” Adding, “The film began with a refusal to remain silent.”
It’s no secret that the refugee crisis in Europe has carried on for years with many groups desperately seeking refuge in Europe when forced to flee their homeland. In 2021, the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, extended false promises of passage through a treacherous forest bordering Poland to thousands of migrants and asylum seekers using cruel manipulation. Poland responded by sealing their borders. Journalists and aid workers were not allowed to enter to witness nor extend their help. It was at this junction that Zwiefka joined a group of volunteers to tell this story to the world, featuring a young Kurdish family and their journey to seek freedom.
On the border between Belarus and Poland, a young Kurdish family is stranded in a freezing forest. They are not allowed entrance into either country after promises of goodwill. Runa, a sixteen-year-old, the oldest child in a family of nine, is forced to transcend into adulthood to care for her four younger brothers and her father when her pregnant mother dies due to the harsh conditions.
The threat of deportation looms while the family is graciously cared for in a Polish refugee camp. Runa’s personal hopes and dreams come to a halt as the whole family deals with the trauma of their ordeal, the loss of their loved ones, and the uncertainty of their future.
Runa longs to be a normal teenager with the dream of becoming a lawyer, but the fear of being sent back into the hands of ISIS is a threatening reality. Runa uses the art of drawing to pour her emotions and experiences into a sketch pad. It’s this visual journal that brings her comfort and joy.
Beautifully told, Zwiefka blends unique animation with raw film footage of Runa’s journey, as a portrayal of resilience, and how this teenager navigates the complexities of loss, grief, and the pursuit of a brighter future in SILENT TREES—set against the backdrop of a global refugee crisis.
