Silent Friend: Hungary Selects Ildikó Enyedi’s Film for 2027 Oscars International Feature Race
Ildikó Enyedi’s “Silent Friend” has been selected by Hungary as its official entry for the 2027 Academy Awards in the Best International Feature Film category, putting the Venice-winning drama into the early Oscar race.
The film, which stars Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Luna Wedler, Enzo Brumm and Léa Seydoux, explores the relationship between humans, plants and the passage of time through a poetic, multi-layered story. The selection gives Enyedi another opportunity at the Oscars after her 2017 film On Body and Soul received an international feature nomination.
Fast Facts
- Film: Silent Friend
- Director: Ildikó Enyedi
- Country: Hungary
- Oscar category: Best International Feature Film
- Key stars: Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Luna Wedler, Enzo Brumm and Léa Seydoux
- Venice Film Festival: Six awards at the 82nd edition
- Oscar shortlist: Due Dec. 15, 2026
- Oscar nominations: Scheduled for Jan. 21, 2027
- 97th? The 99th Academy Awards are scheduled for March 14, 2027, in Los Angeles.
Hungary Sends Silent Friend Into the Oscar Race
Hungary’s selection places Silent Friend among the films competing for a spot on the Academy’s shortlist for Best International Feature Film.
The movie is the latest work from Enyedi, whose On Body and Soul won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival before going on to earn an Oscar nomination for Hungary in 2018.
Silent Friend arrives in the Oscar conversation with significant festival recognition already behind it.
The film won six awards at the 82nd Venice Film Festival and was also selected among five films nominated for the FIPRESCI Grand Prix, an annual critics’ prize recognizing outstanding cinema.
What Is Silent Friend About?
At the center of Silent Friend is an unusual connection between people, plants and time.
Rather than building its story around conventional dramatic conflict, Enyedi uses the natural world as an important part of the film’s exploration of human existence. The result is a poetic drama that examines how different forms of life intersect across generations and time.
The international cast includes Hong Kong star Tony Leung Chiu-wai, alongside Luna Wedler, Enzo Brumm and Léa Seydoux.
The film has also attracted strong critical attention. Variety critic Guy Lodge described it as a warm and humorous work whose relationship with nature gives the film an unusually affectionate quality.
Silent Friend’s Strong Festival Run
The film’s Oscar campaign follows a notable run on the festival circuit.
At the 45th Hungarian Film Week in Budapest, Silent Friend was named Best Film earlier this year.
Several members of its creative team also received awards.
Gergely Pálos won for cinematography, Károly Szalai received the editing award, and producer Mónika Mécs was honored for her work on the film.
Those awards add to the recognition the movie has already received internationally and give Hungary’s Oscar submission a strong festival résumé before the Academy begins narrowing the field.
Ildikó Enyedi Has Oscar History
The Oscar selection also marks another international feature campaign for Enyedi.
Her On Body and Soul became Hungary’s Oscar nominee in the same category in 2018 after winning Berlin’s Golden Bear.
That earlier success makes Enyedi one of the most recognizable Hungarian filmmakers in the international awards conversation, although Silent Friend represents a very different cinematic world.
The new film’s focus on humans, plants and time gives it an expansive thematic identity, while its festival recognition provides an early indication of its international appeal.
Who Made Silent Friend?
Silent Friend is an international co-production involving Germany, Hungary, France and China.
The production companies are Germany’s Pandora Film, Hungary’s Inforg-M&M Film and France’s Galatée Films, working in collaboration with China’s Rediance Films.
The film was produced by Reinhard Brundig and Mónika Mécs and received support from Hungary’s National Film Institute.
Its international distribution has already been arranged across numerous territories.
1-2 Special is handling the film’s U.S. release, while Films Boutique is responsible for world sales.
When Will Silent Friend’s Oscar Fate Be Decided?
Hungary’s selection is only the beginning of the Oscar process.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is scheduled to announce the 2027 Best International Feature Film shortlist on Dec. 15, 2026.
The final Oscar nominations are scheduled to be announced on Jan. 21, 2027.
The 99th Academy Awards are scheduled for March 14, 2027, in Los Angeles.
Until the shortlist is announced, Silent Friend remains Hungary’s submission rather than a confirmed Oscar nominee.
Hungary’s Oscar Selection Committee
The film was chosen by a Hungarian committee made up of professionals from across the country’s film industry.
The panel included cinematographer Mátyás Erdély, screenwriter and director Gyula Gazdag, film historian and critic Gábor Gelencsér, festival organizer Kristóf Horváth, director Ágnes Kocsis and producer Sára László.
Their decision puts Enyedi’s film at the center of Hungary’s campaign for the next international feature Oscar.
For Silent Friend, the path to the Academy now moves from national selection to the international shortlist — with its Venice awards, Hungarian Film Week victory and Enyedi’s previous Oscar history giving the film a notable starting point.
