Three years after the release of his celebrated directorial debut Son of Saul, Hungarian filmmaker Laszlo Nemes is ready with his second film, Napszallta (Sunshine).
Son of Saul bagged the Grand Prix at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and was named the best foreign language film at the Golden Globes and Academy Awards in 2016.
Napszallta will be premiered at the Venice Film Festival, alongside new films by Alfonso Cuaron (Roma), Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite), and Luca Guadagnino (Suspiria). The festival commences on August 29 and ends on September 8.
Juli Jakab, who had a minor role in Son of Saul, plays irisz Leiter, who returns to Budapest in the summer of 1913 to work at a popular hat store that previously belonged to her parents. The new owner, Oszkar Brill (Vlad Ivanov), rejects Irisz, who meanwhile sets out to find her lost brother while Hungary gets ready for the First World War.
The 41-year-old director found international fame right after the release of Son of Saul. Set in a concentration camp in Auschwitz during World War II, the film told the story of a prisoner who attempts to give a dead Jewish boy a proper burial.
Cinemtaographer Matyes Erdely, who worked on Son of Saul, has shot Napszallta on 35mm. Nemes has retained his co-writer (Clara Royer), editor (Matthieu Taponier), and music composer (Laszlo Melis) from Son of Saul.