Silent Trees

Year
2024
Country
Poland
Duration
84’
Director
Agnieszka Zwiefka
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 four younger brothers and her 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, a threat appears — deportation. Runa’s escape from everyday problems is a sketchbook filled with drawings expressing her feelings. Gradually, her drawings come to life. The film is a partially animated coming-of-age story in the times of the global refugee crisis.
CREW:
Director: Agnieszka Zwiefka
Cinematographer: Kacper Czubak
Sound: Franciszek Kozłowski, Daniel Adamczyk
Production
CHILLI PRODUCTIONS
Sales:
KFF Sales & Promotion, +48122946945
Awards
54th Giffoni Film Festival 2024, Italy – Best Documentary Award. 21st Verzio International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival 2024 Hungary. 43rd Cambridge Film Festival 2024, United Kingdom - Youth Lab Jury Award. Slamdance Film Festival 2025, USA – The Breakouts Feature Grand Jury Prize. Docaviv - The 26th Tel Aviv International Documentary Film Festival 2024, Israel - Beyond the Screen Award. 64th Krakow Film Festival 2024, Poland – Golden Hobby-Horse, Special Mention, Special Mention for Runa Husni
Director
Agnieszka Zwiefka
Agnieszka Zwiefka is an award-winning filmmaker. Her films The Queen of Silence (2014) and Scars (2020) were screened at festivals worldwide. She balances reality and fantasy in her movies, creating hybrids that cross the border between documentary and fiction. Zwiefka is a member of European Film Academy (EFA), an alumna of workshops Dok.Incubator, ScripTeast, Nipkow Programme, and Berlinale Talents as well as Meryl Streep’s and Nicole Kidman’s The Writers Lab.
Selected Filmography
Silent Trees (2024), Vika! (2023), Scars (2020), TheQueen of Silence (2014)
22 INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL
 6 — 13 
June 2025
Machtat
DOCU/WORLD
Machtat
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2023
Country
Lebanon
Director
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Duration
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DOCU/WORLD
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DOCU/WORLD
Grasshopper Republic
Year
2023
Country
USA, Uganda
Director
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DOCU/WORLD
A Golden Life
Year
2023
Country
Burkina Faso, Benin, France
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Duration
83’
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DOCU/WORLD
Knit’s Island
Year
2023
Country
France
Directors
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Duration
95’
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DOCU/WORLD
Rowdy Girl
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2023
Country
USA
Director
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Duration
72’
DOCU/WORLD
Body
DOCU/WORLD
Body
Year
2023
Country
Slovenia, Croatia, North Macedonia
Director
Petra Seliškar
Duration
91’
DOCU/WORLD
Magic Mountain
DOCU/WORLD
Magic Mountain
Year
2023
Country
Georgia, Poland
Directors
Mariam Chachia, Nik Voigt
Duration
74’
DOCU/WORLD
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DOCU/WORLD
The World According to My Dad
Year
2023
Country
Czech Republic, Slovakia
Director
Marta Kovářová
Duration
77’
DOCU/WORLD
Bigger Than Trauma
DOCU/WORLD
Bigger Than Trauma
Year
2022
Country
Croatia
Director
Vedrana Pribačić
Duration
90’
DOCU/WORLD