Silent Love

26th TIDF: Greek Premiere

Silent Love is a coming-of-age and a coming-out story. Aga, 35, is legally adopting her teenage brother, Milosz, after their mother’s death – a process that invites intense probing into her lifestyle. However, there’s something she can’t share in their conservative Polish village: her long-term relationship with her girlfriend Maja. Gradually, a new family model is revealed, documented by Marek Kozakiewicz as an attempt that is as restrained as it is determined. Without commentary or interviews, this subtle, award-winning debut film shows how the members of this “new” family engage with each other and the potentially hostile outside world in this small, conservative town where xenophobia and traditional male-female roles are manifested in word and deed. No matter the palpable tension, and the fact that we know the truth won’t land well, this brave film defends the strikingly affectionate reality it depicts.