Two and a half years have passed since 'Son of Saul' won an Oscar. How do you rate this award from this perspective? How much have you personally profited from it?

I thought it would have tangible consequences a bit faster, that after the Academy Award I would get more outstanding scripts sooner, maybe even from filmmakers whose work I have known before and already respect. This hasn't really been the case. It seems to be a more gradual process in my case but anyway, it is a terrific business card that I have a movie that has won an Oscar. It is a good context if my name comes to someone's mind as “the cinematographer who photographed 'Son of Saul'”.

With 'Son of Saul', the preparation process was quite long. You have carefully mapped the visual world of the film in advance. Was it done the same way with 'Sunset' as well?

We had been preparing for 'Son of Saul' for about three years, we had been working at a very fast pace in the last few months. For 'Sunset', we had one and a half years, however, this period was very intensive from the very beginning to the very end.

You mentioned during your Oscar campaign for 'Son of Saul' that you had begun working on 'Sunset'.

It was an interesting situation: the campaign of 'Son of Saul' was going on all over the world, which required great physical and mental efforts from László, however, he was already thinking about 'Sunset'. The screenplay was developing, and I joined in very early, too.

'Sunset', with its bigger budget and even more complicated scenes, was shot for twice as long as 'Son of Saul'. Was this a liberating feeling, or rather a stress factor?

It required a different working method, exactly because of its scale. From a Europeanstyle cinematographer, who is basically sitting behind the camera, I became an American-style director of photography. György Réder was our camera operator, he was the one who finished 'Son of Saul' after I had been involved in an accident. Now he was operating while I was lighting. At first, this situation seemed a bit strange to me, but the three of us—László, György and I—could cooperate and communicate splendidly and it worked out great.

This is your fourth film in a row—after 'Miss Bala', 'Son of Saul', and 'James White'— which uses a subjective viewpoint. Why did this film also require close, subjective style?

Interestingly, I was not necessarily the one who suggested this kind of working method. I am currently working on the second feature by Sean Durkin, and our approach is very didferent. It so happened that 'Miss Bala' was a very subjective story, focusing on one person, which required the camera to be with the protagonist. It is interesting to me that I have shown the director the film 'With a little Patience', which we had made with László Nemes, and it became a very important point of reference for him. 'James White' is also subjective, the screenplay was based on the director's own experiences. 'Son of Saul' is an explicit, extreme version, and with 'Sunset', László wanted to show the world again through one person's perspective.

However, when we finished 'Son of Saul', and began to talk about 'Sunset', we definitely wanted to do something that was very different. For example, if the aspect ratio was 1: 1.37 in 'Son of Saul', then it should be anamorphic 1:2.39 in 'Sunset'; if 'Son of Saul' was to be photographed with a handheld camera, then let's use the dolly for 'Sunset'. We made a mood test film, but the camera was in my hands already for the second shot. We realised that the kind of approach
that László likes and that matches 'Sunset' requires that the camera be hand-held. We decided in advance that there would be dolly and anamorph, however, in vain—in the end, it was 1: 1.85 and a hand-held camera.

Juli Jakab in 'Sunset'

'Sunset' was shot on film, too, partly on 65 mm...

We only shot the epilogue of the film on 65 mm, the rest of the film was shot on 35 mm. Our intention was that the ending would be somehow separate from the rest of the film. It creates a different mood, and we wanted to seperate it visually, too.

What's the bonus for shooting 'Sunset' on film, and that we will be able to watch it on film, too?

Every work of art has its own form, it was not by chance that Rembrandt painted with oil. He thought oil paint on canvas would reflect most accurately what he wanted to show of the world. An important component of the creative process is how the product gets to the viewer—in the case of 'Sunset', the 35 film and print can achieve the effect we wanted to achieve.

With 'Son of Saul', you determined the aesthetics of your own movie compared to other Holocaust movies. Historical costume dramas also have a fixed palette. Was it a concept again that the film should not be within its genre?

We wanted to avoid making a postcard -like film by all means: if we have a nice location or dress, let's not just linger on it for a long time because it's beautiful. 'Sunset' takes place in a very specific historical moment, at the height of civilisation, in the golden years of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Budapest had never been more exciting and richer in multi-layered arts, science, architecture, and culture than in the period between 1892 and 1913. The film's main location is the Leiter Hat Store—with the hat perfectly symbolizing this sophisticated world. One of the main questions of 'Sunset' is what is happening in such an overburdened moment, why and how the fall begins.

How much stress was caused by internal or external expectations with 'Sunset' being the second feature by László Nemes after his Academy Award?

Both László and I are maximalists. Regardless of what happens, whether it wins any award or not, I love 'Sunset', it is a beautiful movie, and an important milestone in my professional life.

András Huszár