Slamdance 2025 Reviews: Agnieszka Zweifka ‘s SILENT TREES offers a Stark and Intimate Look at Refugee Survival

Agnieszka Zweifka ’s Silent Trees is a striking documentary that provides an unflinching yet deeply personal examination of the refugee experience. Through the lens of 16-year-old Runa, a Kurdish refugee stranded at the Belarusian-Polish border, the film captures the harrowing realities of displacement, loss and adaptation. Without resorting to sentimentality, Silent Trees offers a stark look at the weight of forced migration and the resilience of those who endure it via a sampled perspective.

Filmmaker interviews, reviews, FREE communities. Find Films Gone Wild on YouTube | Facebook | Instagram

From the outset, the film establishes its unvarnished visual and emotional tone. Runa and her family, denied entry into both Belarus and Poland, find themselves trapped in an icy forest, battling extreme cold, hunger and the looming threat of being forcibly expelled. When Runa’s pregnant mother succumbs to brutal conditions, the teenager is thrust into a role far beyond her years—caring for her younger brothers and giving emotional support to her grieving father. Silent Trees does not rely on overt dramatization; it organically unfolds, allowing the weight of the circumstances to take viewers on this gripping journey.

Once the family is relocated to a Polish refugee camp, the film shifts its focus from physical survival to psychological endurance. Zweifka’s approach is observational, often lingering on quiet moments of daily life—Runa trying to help her father navigate job searches, struggling with language barriers and seeking a sense of normalcy in a landscape that offers little stability. The film effectively highlights the many obstacles facing refugees beyond securing asylum, including economic hardship, bureaucratic barriers and the raging trauma of their past.

#Sponsored Ads

One of the film’s most distinctive elements is its use of animation to visualize Runa’s internal world. As she explores art as an expressive and therapeutic outlet, she finds solace in drawing. Her artwork comes to life in fluid, often haunting animated sequences. Illustrating her emotional state, these sequences are a gateway to understanding her dreams, fears and unresolved grief. This is a poignant counterpoint to the documentary’s otherwise restrained aesthetic. This creative device not only deepens the audience’s connection to Runa’s perspective but also spotlights how trauma shapes memory and self-expression.

Notably, Zweifka avoids political grandstanding, delivering a humanistic approach that focuses on Runa and her family. While the film implicitly critiques the harsh realities of European refugee policies, it does so by delving into its impact on individual lives. The film’s unobtrusive cinematography emphasizes the intimate details of the story while positioning it within the broader context of the ongoing refugee crisis. The strength of Silent Trees lies in its ability to balance the specific details of Runa’s journey with the universality of her experience. While her story is uniquely hers, it resonates as part of a larger reality of displaced people around the world. The film does not attempt to placate or minimize the complex traumas of refugees by offering easy solutions or a neatly resolved conclusion. Instead, it leaves viewers with the lingering duality that most refugees balance: a life.