When discussing the film 'Son of Saul', you have often said that you divide the history of set design into three main periods. The first one was all about building huge and spectacular sets, the second used the green box, and 'Son of Saul' opens the third phase, where everyone on set can see the set design but the audience can't. Which period does the set design of 'Sunset' belong to?

In the first phase of classic set design, the production takes the urban sets into the backlot of the studio outside of the city. When we designed 'Sunset'– although the set design was large and spectacular–it was the studio that came into the city. Building the main site of 'Sunset', the gigantic building of the Leiter Hat Store among the perfectly fitting period houses of the Palace District of Budapest, together with the adjoining buildings, town squares and a park, created a truly special effect. In 'Sunset', unlike in 'Son of Saul', all this can be seen: a symbiosis of the city and the set design.

According to you, in 'Son of Saul' it was the sound that took over the role of set design. Is it going to be the same in 'Sunset'? What is your collaboration like with Tamás Zányi, the sound designer of both films?

The space of 'Son of Saul' is an enclosed universe, the strict but also intimate world of the concentration camp. 'Sunset', on the other hand, takes place in an open world, with all the sounds and noises of a big city. This means that in this film we–sound designer and production designer alike–had to create a completely different, open and noisy universe which reflects much less intimacy.

You had access to a large amount of historical material which you used for the set design of 'Son of Saul'. Did you have similar sources for 'Sunset'?

When 'Son of Saul' was in post-production, we already knew that the next film by László Nemes would somehow discuss the first big and testing era of the 20th century, the period right before the Great War. I'm emphasising the word 'somehow' with a reason. I have been the production designer of all of László's films, and he surprised me every single time with how differently he saw the particular era which he had chosen as his film's time. This is why it was the most important task of the pre-production period for me to get hold of and synthesise as much material– data, photos, and verbal resources–as possible. I must thank all those who helped this process as the members of the research team and the art department, and the invaluable information we received from Fortepan–an online private photo archives–, the Budapest Collection of the Ervin Szabó Library, and the photo collection of the Hungarian National Museum, friends and private persons.

We have even published a special book for our own use, in order to collate all this material in one place: it's called 'The Breviary', and exists only in a few copies as a sort of samizdat. Hundreds and hundreds of colourful pages, photos, and ambiances. This collection has become so powerful that even now, we can't stop: we're still regularly sharing our newest discoveries of the Budapest of the past with the other members of the creative team.

The Leiter Hat Store has been erected in the Palace District of Budapest. How did you imagine this building?

Every building is a concentration of an aesthetic concept and style, and these represent the concentration of the entire era. When planning the Leiter Hat Store, I considered the urban texture and structure of the city: roads, crossroads, the layering of different styles and elements, and additions–not just a simple building. It was important to determine the starting point and the destination, the directions, the spaces and lights. As an architect, I usually have a lot more freedom but as the production designer of a film, I have to work closely together with the director and the cinematographer, and my solutions must serve their needs. We built the Hat Store, the main site of the film, on an empty plot in a small street behind the Hungarian National Museum, between two houses that were most certainly there at the time of the story. It was built to leave room for the camera to move freely, and to leave enough space for the technology, but at the same time those who played–and practically lived–their parts within its walls had to believe every single second that they were in the year 1913, in Budapest, at its most elegant hat store full of secrets.

Juli Jakab in 'Sunset'

What is the meaning of the following sentence which is also featured in the trailer: 'This building still stands, when everything else is gone.' 

The year when the film is set, 1913, is no accident. The first volume of Marcel Proust's monumental novel, 'In Search of Lost Time' was published that year. It was also the last year of the Belle Époque. In times of change, we always need something constant to relate to; in our case, this is the Leiter Hat Store, the heritage of Írisz Leiter. What is changing is everything else: the morale, the society, the culture, and the backdrop of it all: the magical and colourful city of Budapest. We wanted to reconstruct this changing world that has disappeared since. This is why we decided to work with a built set as opposed to shooting in an existing building which might be well known or recognisable. I created something new with my colleagues–a whole new area of the city at an empty plot of the Palace District–but I have 'stolen' or borrowed a lot from the Budapest of that time, and from the work of my fellow architects of that bygone era. I would even venture to say that there is not a detail of the Leiter Hat Store which doesn't exist somewhere in Budapest. Many tiny elements which make a whole new entity, just like the eclectic city of Budapest itself. Cariatides, columns, tympana, ages layered upon ages. Past and present, all with its own modernity.

How did the overwhelming international success of 'Son of Saul' affect you? You have talked to the press about the film many times, you have even held lectures and workshops.

I was very happy about the international success, but also that many people in Hungary have also watched the film. They talked about it, and, consequently, about the subjects they had never talked about before. The Shoah, the Holocaust, and the moral struggles and individual battles have become part of the public discourse, and we have faced individual responsibility, too. I'm glad that the success of 'Son of Saul' continues. An important part of it is the set design, but it is not the most important one. The secret of this success is the staggering power of the director's concept (László Nemes), the vision of the cinematographer (Mátyás Erdély), and the sound design and music (Tamás Zányi and László Melis).

As an architect and artist, I have been working with the spaces and the memory of Auschwitz, but every single time I watch 'Son of Saul', or hold a lecture about it anywhere in the world–Princeton University, Iceland or Vilnius–, it evokes new emotions in me, and it affects me every minute. Not only the power of the topic, but the visual power created by my colleagues.

I think that this visual and intellectual power is also the power of 'Sunset'. It discusses a different subject in a different way, but with the same intensity and mind-blowing effect.

Anita Libor