Hungarian film “Son of Saul” wins Oscar

Budapest, February 29 (MTI) – Hungarian director László Nemes’s Holocaust drama “Son of Saul”, won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at a ceremony in Los Angeles late Sunday, local time.

Nemes’s first feature film shows filmgoers the Nazi death camps from the perspective of a Sonderkommando member, a Jewish prisoner forced to work in the gas chambers and crematoria. In the film, Saul Auslander, goes to great lengths to give a dead boy, whom he calls his son, a proper burial.

The prize is Hungary’s second in the category. The first went to director István Szabó for “Mephisto” in 1982.

“Son of Saul” won the Grand Prix and the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) prize in Cannes, and it took the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film in Los Angeles, among many other prizes.

Earlier, Nemes complained that the Holocaust had become an “abstraction” over the years. “For me, it’s more of a face we must not forget,” he said.

“Son of Saul” was made with the support of the Hungarian National Film Fund.

Andrew Vajna, Hungary’s film industry commissioner, said in a statement the award was “a huge success” that “all Hungarians can be proud of”. It shows that “if you have a good idea and you are willing to work hard for it then you, too, can succeed,” he added.

Photo: MTI

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters