What represents a bigger risk: to promote a debut film like the 'Son of Saul' or to promote the second film of a director who won an Academy Award only recently? How much a production after winning an Academy Award can raise unfulfillable expectations?

The 'Son of Saul' was a debut project, when we read the script, we were speechless, and had the urge to start it right there immediately. László Nemes had made several short films before, but our cooperation started with the 'Son of Saul'. It's never easy to promote a debut filmmaker: you never know how they can perform in real situations. We had to make a lot of compromises during the making of 'Son of Saul', but as a result of dedicated cooperation, we could turn these compromises to the advantage of the film. Our task is to supervise the artists and direct the crew without limiting their creativity. But it's a completely different story following the 'Son of Saul''s success in festivals, after winning the Academy Award, and the film having a widespread distribution around the world. There is a huge amount of expectation in case of 'Sunset', everybody wants to know if the 'Son of Saul' was an only oneoccasion hit or László Nemes is such an exceptionally talented director who is able to replicate the success. Does he have his own visionary perspective, can he create a completely new language, can he manage to make another successful movie out of a script with a different topic? We already know the answer, and we are very proud of him. 

How did you put together the budget of the film? Which organisations supported or gave a grant to the 'Sunset'?

The 'Sunset' was made in a Hungarian- French coproduction, in the production of Laokoon Filmgroup, in cooperation with Playtime. The production was led by Gábor Sipos and Gábor Rajna, and French coproducers are Francios Yon, Nicolas Brigaud-Robert and Valéry Guibal. The biggest share of the budget was partly given by the Hungarian National Film Fund, and by the Hungarian Film Incentive. Other supporters are the Eurimages, the Aide aux Cinémas du Monde—Centre National du Cinéma et de l'image Animée—Institut Français, the Indéfilms 6, The Creative Europe—MEDIA and the TorinoFilmLab.

Gábor Rajna, Gábor Sipos, László Nemes, Géza Röhrig at the Academy Awards

How did the success of the 'Son of Saul' change your job as producers? What became more difficult or easier?

The enormous victory of 'Son of Saul' was our admission card to the cream of the international circle of movie professionals. The Laokoon Filmgroup was established 16 years ago, we have been offered many international cooperations since then. We believe international co-productions are valid, and it is a great honour when foreign professionals choose us as their cooperative partners. Our latest international coproduction was the latest film of Krzysztof Zanussi.

Does the Academy Award make the life of other directors at Laokoon Filmgroup easier?

Directly it has no effects on our other projects. However, our relationships, our social network, our presence in the international currents do have a major influence on our work as producers. All the directors are treated equally in the Laokoon Filmgroup, our professional knowledge and experience make us more confident during our collaboration with them.

More Hungarian directors seek the possibility to work with Laokoon Filmgroup than before, they have trust towards us that we can make their project successful, too. During the years we have developed the skill of producing and developing several projects parallel at the same time—thanks to our dedicated and enthusiastic team.

Are debut filmmakers knocking on your door in large numbers after the winning of Academy Award with the same hopes?

Debut filmmakers have one thing in common: with the lack of experience and full of expectations they are looking for a producer who is as dedicated to their project as they are. We like to fulfil this kind of expectations heated by emotions because that's the only way you can get the most out of debut film projects. There are several producers in Laokoon Filmgroup, Judit Stalter, our company partner is just working on the production of a debut film. We also develop debut films, but many times we have to turn down projects.

Dávid Dercsényi