László Nemes (born Nemes Jeles László; ; 18 February 1977) is a Hungarian film director and screenwriter. His 2015 debut feature film, ''

Son of Saul ''Son of Saul'' () is a 2015 Hungarian historical drama film directed by László Nemes, in his feature directorial debut, and co-written by Nemes and Clara Royer. It is set in the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II, and follows ...

,'' was screened in the main competition at the

2015 Cannes Film Festival The 68th Cannes Film Festival took place from 13 to 24 May 2015. Coen brothers, Ethan and Joel Coen were the Co-Presidents of the Jury for the main competition, marking the first time that two people co-chaired the jury. Since the Coen brothers ...

, where it won the

Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural ''Grands Prix'') most commonly refers to: * Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition ** List of Formula One Grands Prix, an auto-racing championship *** Monaco Grand Prix, the most prestigious ...

. He is the first Hungarian director whose film has won a

Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film The Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film is a Golden Globe Award presented by Dick Clark Productions to reward theatrically-released feature film not in the English language. It was first introduced at the 7th Golden Globe Awards f ...

. ''Son of Saul'' is the second Hungarian film to win the

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

. In 2016, Nemes was a member of the main competition jury of the

2016 Cannes Film Festival The 69th Cannes Film Festival took place from 11 to 22 May 2016. Australian filmmaker George Miller (filmmaker), George Miller was the president of the jury for the main competition. French actor Laurent Lafitte was the host for the opening and ...

Early life

Nemes was born in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

as the son of a Jewish mother and the Hungarian film and theatre director

András Jeles András Jeles (born 27 March 1945) is a Hungarian film director and writer. Director of the 1984 film '' The Annunciation''. His son László Nemes is also a film director. Career In his homeland, he is best known for his first feature film, 19 ...

. He moved to Paris at the age of 12. Nemes became interested in filmmaking at an early age and began filming amateur horror films in the basement of his Paris home. After studying History
International Relations and Screenwriting
he started working as an

assistant director The role of an assistant director (AD) on a film includes tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, and maintaining order on the set. They also have ...

in France and Hungary on short and feature films. For two years, he worked as

Béla Tarr Béla Tarr (born 21 July 1955) is a Hungarian filmmaker. Debuting with the film '' Family Nest'' (1979), Tarr began his directorial career with a brief period of what he refers to as "social cinema", aimed at telling everyday stories about ordi ...

's assistant during the filming of ''

The Man from London ''The Man from London'' () is a 2007 Hungarian film directed by Béla Tarr and Ágnes Hranitzky. It is an adaptation by Tarr and his collaborator-friend László Krasznahorkai of the 1934 novel ''L'Homme de Londres'' by prolific Belgian writer Ge ...

''.

Career

After directing his first 35-mm short film, ''

With a Little Patience ''With a Little Patience'' () is a Hungarian short film made in 2007, written and directed by László Nemes. It depicts the daily routine of an office clerk keeping records and thus assisting extermination efforts in the course of the Shoah. S ...

'', in September 2006, he moved to New York to study film directing at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic, and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, as the School of the Arts at New York University, Tisch ...

. Beginning in September 2011, he spent five months in

Sciences Po Paris Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...

as part of a scholarship program arranged by the

Cinéfondation La ''Cinéfondation'' is a foundation under the aegis of the Cannes Film Festival, created to inspire and support the next generation of international filmmakers. It was created in 1998 by Gilles Jacob. Since then it has developed complementary ...

, where he and Clara Royer developed the script for ''Son of Saul''. In 2012, they continued intensive work on the screenplay for seven months at the Jerusalem International Film Lab rubbing shoulders with emerging directors such as

Boo Junfeng Boo Junfeng (Chinese: 巫俊锋; pinyin: wū jùn fēng; born 4 December 1983) is a Singaporean filmmaker. Boo's films, ''Sandcastle'' (2010) and ''Apprentice'' (2016) have been screened at the Cannes Film Festival, beginning with his debut fi ...

and :fr:Morgan Simon. He developed his project ''

Sunset Sunset (or sundown) is the disappearance of the Sun at the end of the Sun path, below the horizon of the Earth (or any other astronomical object in the Solar System) due to its Earth's rotation, rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth, it ...

'' through the

TorinoFilmLab TorinoFilmLab (TFL) is a Turin-based laboratory that primarily supports persons working on their first and second fiction feature films. Its four main fields of involvement are training, development, funding and distribution. TorinoFilmLab runs se ...

Script&Pitch programme in 2012 and the Framework programme in 2015. His debut feature film, ''

'', premiered at the 68th Cannes Film Festival as part of the main competition. It won the

, the second-most prestigious prize of the festival. Nemes accepted the 2015 Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film for ''Son of Saul'' at the telecast on 10 January 2016. It is the third Hungarian film nominated for a Golden Globe and the first Hungarian film to win. On March 15, 2024, Nemes shared a public statement with ''The Guardian'' condemning

Jonathan Glazer Jonathan Glazer (born 26 March 1965) is an English filmmaker. He began his career in theatre before transitioning into film, directing the features '' Sexy Beast'' (2000), ''Birth'' (2004), '' Under the Skin'' (2013), and '' The Zone of Inter ...

's acceptance speech for ''

The Zone of Interest Zone of Interest or The Zone of Interest can refer to: * Zone of Interest (Auschwitz), an area surrounding Auschwitz concentration camp * ''The Zone of Interest'' (novel), a 2014 novel by Martin Amis, named after the above * ''The Zone of Intere ...

'' winning Best International Feature at the

96th Academy Awards The 96th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 10, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. During the gala, the AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonl ...

. In his speech, Glazer stated he and producer James Wilson stood "... as men who refute their Jewishness and the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people, whether the victims of

October 7 Events Pre-1600 * 3761 BC – The epoch reference date (start) of the modern Hebrew calendar. * 1403 – Venetian–Genoese wars: The Genoese fleet under a French admiral is defeated by a Venetian fleet at the Battle of Modon. * 1477 ...

in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza." Nemes stated that Glazer "... should have stayed silent instead of revealing he has no understanding of history and the forces undoing civilization, before or after the Holocaust..." and accused him of resorting to "talking points disseminated by propaganda meant to eradicate, at the end, all Jewish presence from the Earth." Nemes also suggested that the choice in the film to focus on the perpetrators of the Holocaust rather than the victims related to Glazer's speech, writing " ybe it all makes sense, ironically... there is absolutely no Jewish presence on screen in ''The Zone of Interest.'' Let us all be shocked by the Holocaust, safely in the past, and not see how the world might eventually, one day, finish Hitler’s job - in the name of progress and endless good."

Influences and artistry

Nemes has named

Michelangelo Antonioni Michelangelo Antonioni ( ; ; 29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and editor. He is best known for his "trilogy on modernity and its discontents", ''L'Avventura'' (1960), ''La Notte'' (1961), and '' ...

Andrei Tarkovsky Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky (, ; 4 April 1932 – 29 December 1986) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter of Russian origin. He is widely considered one of the greatest directors in cinema history. Works by Andrei Tarkovsky, His films e ...

Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film and theatre director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential film directors of all time, his films have been described as "profoun ...

Terrence Malick Terrence Frederick Malick (; born November 30, 1943) is an American filmmaker. Malick began his career as part of the New Hollywood generation of filmmakers and received awards at the Cannes Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, and ...

and

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...

as some of his favorite directors.

Filmography

Feature films

Short films

Awards

Kossuth Prize The Kossuth Prize (, ) is a state-sponsored award in Hungary, named after the Hungarian politician and revolutionist Lajos Kossuth. The Prize was established in 1936, by the Hungarian National Assembly, to acknowledge outstanding personal and grou ...

(2016) Short film * 2007 - Hungarian Society of Cinematographers - Best Short Film * 2007 - Hungarian Film Week - Best Short Film * 2007 - Bilbao International Festival of Documentary and Short Films - Silver Mikeldi * 2008 - Angers Premiers Plans - Best European Short Film * 2008 - Angers Premiers Plans - ARTE Prize * 2008 - Angers Premiers Plans - Best Actress: Virág Marjai * 2008 - Athens International Film & Video Festival - Black Bear Award * 2008 - Mediawave International Film Festival - Best Cinematography * 2008 - Indie Lisboa International Film Festival - Onda Curta Award * 2010 - NexT International Film Festival Bucharest - "Cristian Nemescu" Best Directing Award Feature film * 2015 -

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

* 2015 -

- FIPRESCI Competition Award * 2015 -

François Chalais Prize The François Chalais Prize ( French: ''Prix François Chalais'') is awarded at two main events, the Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film fe ...

* 2015 -

* 2016 - Independent Spirit Award for Best International Film * 2016 -

* 2017 -

BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language The BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language is a film award given annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and presented at the British Academy Film Awards. The award was first given at the 36th British Academy F ...

* 2018 - 75th

Venice International Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...

- FIPRESCI Award * 2018 - 15th Seville Film Festival - Eurimages Award To The Best European Coproduction * 2019 - 9th Beijing International Film Festival - The Best Director

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nemes, Laszlo Living people 1977 births Writers from Budapest Writers from Paris Hungarian film directors 21st-century Hungarian screenwriters Hungarian people of Jewish descent Tisch School of the Arts alumni Directors of Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award winners Filmmakers who won the Best Foreign Language Film BAFTA Award Hungarian male screenwriters Hungarian Zionists