Oscar-nominated Hungarian filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi ’s return to the Venice Film Festival competition, Silent Friend , had its world premiere Friday evening as the last film in the fest’s 2025 lineup, receiving an ovation that lasted 5 minutes and 22 seconds.

The applause in the Sala Grande was enthusiastic and only died down as the cast and creatives made for the exits, led by its co-star Léa Seydoux.

Silent Friend stars Tony Leung Chiu-wai , Luna Wedler, Enzo Brumm and Seydoux and intertwines three time periods, set in the heart of a botanical garden in a medieval university town in Germany where a majestic ginkgo tree stands. This “silent witness” for over a century has observed the quiet rhythms of transformation across three human lives.

In 2020, a neuroscientist from Hong

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