https://caligaripress.com CALIGARI Mon, 10 Oct 2022 15:06:02 +0000 https://caligaripress.com en https://caligaripress.com/Issue-5 Mon, 10 Oct 2022 15:06:02 +0000 CALIGARI https://caligaripress.com/Issue-5 <img width="3561" height="2206" width_o="3561" height_o="2206" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/40a447400ad933be268b3b270af7c689d7be4dad19aa139f5e83ad56a4233b4f/Caligari_Halloween_10_-5.png" data-mid="155414787" border="0" data-no-zoom src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/40a447400ad933be268b3b270af7c689d7be4dad19aa139f5e83ad56a4233b4f/Caligari_Halloween_10_-5.png" /> <img width="1440" height="1096" width_o="1440" height_o="1096" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/bbd3bb48665817e5f771b5ddbb0e45a6fb7ea3e65bdf94ffad55721158940b62/Maggie-Hennefeld-cover.png" data-mid="155659109" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/bbd3bb48665817e5f771b5ddbb0e45a6fb7ea3e65bdf94ffad55721158940b62/Maggie-Hennefeld-cover.png" />Hysteria, Hypnosis, and Hallucination in the Archives of Silent CinemaMaggie Hennefeld <img width="1084" height="822" width_o="1084" height_o="822" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ca718f4b82b5eb6cd39b1eba54baf8adec395d7348c6081f8cf36bcc7763e25d/Chef-Rashida-Spaceballs.png" data-mid="156422246" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ca718f4b82b5eb6cd39b1eba54baf8adec395d7348c6081f8cf36bcc7763e25d/Chef-Rashida-Spaceballs.png" />SPACEBALLS + Focaccia Pizza with Spicy Lamb Curry and Red Pepper SauceChef Rashida Holmes <img width="1084" height="824" width_o="1084" height_o="824" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1fbfbdc2baa72c5d87714f26fa8a7bb016e6d1ef9b9be3f2193acd8373c10aed/Howard-Berger-cover-2.png" data-mid="156027882" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1fbfbdc2baa72c5d87714f26fa8a7bb016e6d1ef9b9be3f2193acd8373c10aed/Howard-Berger-cover-2.png" />Special Make-Up Effects Artist Howard BergerInterview by Jonathan Thomas <img width="1436" height="1092" width_o="1436" height_o="1092" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9f150308f57142c4277f772e89fe199043681203fe221dc0d662bb66990eac86/Cinerama-and-Sublimity.png" data-mid="155661854" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9f150308f57142c4277f772e89fe199043681203fe221dc0d662bb66990eac86/Cinerama-and-Sublimity.png" /> Cinerama and Sublimity Eva Díaz <img width="1438" height="1090" width_o="1438" height_o="1090" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e103406b5dacd22aaba8a15feb6f506d069d26c8b4d8357bab3322e93f4f8858/Nosferatu-cover.png" data-mid="156511070" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e103406b5dacd22aaba8a15feb6f506d069d26c8b4d8357bab3322e93f4f8858/Nosferatu-cover.png" />100 Years of NOSFERATU Jürgen Müller, Frank Schmidt, Kyllikki Zacharias <img width="1080" height="824" width_o="1080" height_o="824" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/897b1a7bf757f842cc01d575cfddf1889971712dfabc14d51d022b41860b7616/Daney-Cover.png" data-mid="156540373" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/897b1a7bf757f842cc01d575cfddf1889971712dfabc14d51d022b41860b7616/Daney-Cover.png" />The Monster is Afraid + Night of the Living DeadSerge Daney <img width="1436" height="1088" width_o="1436" height_o="1088" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f9b2d68454012deb400a2a8b4a06d0240f0d1ee51c85e848b995752d7cb6c1d7/Chloe-Galibert-Laine.jpg" data-mid="155831643" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f9b2d68454012deb400a2a8b4a06d0240f0d1ee51c85e848b995752d7cb6c1d7/Chloe-Galibert-Laine.jpg" />The Eye Was in the Tomb and Looked at Daney Chloé Galibert-Laîné <img width="1434" height="1090" width_o="1434" height_o="1090" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/138409184efe155001581f9f6f3d269a7a2b2a927a8aee35314cdc1980b951d0/Andrew-Dosunmu-cover.png" data-mid="155660282" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/138409184efe155001581f9f6f3d269a7a2b2a927a8aee35314cdc1980b951d0/Andrew-Dosunmu-cover.png" /> Andrew Dosunmu Interview by Jonathan Thomas <img width="1438" height="1096" width_o="1438" height_o="1096" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c66b51da3ebcb4fb12c59a0f1a2118c851a462c2e2d2e4a9bd58e565c0c33f65/LOVE-cover.png" data-mid="156002786" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c66b51da3ebcb4fb12c59a0f1a2118c851a462c2e2d2e4a9bd58e565c0c33f65/LOVE-cover.png" /> LOVE A film by Jodie Mack https://caligaripress.com/Chef-Rashida-Holmes-SPACEBALLS-Focaccia-Pizza-with-Spicy-Lamb-Curry Mon, 10 Oct 2022 05:47:41 +0000 CALIGARI https://caligaripress.com/Chef-Rashida-Holmes-SPACEBALLS-Focaccia-Pizza-with-Spicy-Lamb-Curry Chef Rashida Holmes SPACEBALLS + Focaccia Pizza with Spicy Lamb Curry and Red Pepper Sauce <img width="733" height="652" width_o="733" height_o="652" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/79f9e5e6990193145dade80719e4677bb26bfb1a293a3d48072003d95677d732/Bridgetown.png" data-mid="155877639" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/733/i/79f9e5e6990193145dade80719e4677bb26bfb1a293a3d48072003d95677d732/Bridgetown.png" /> <img width="1000" height="1485" width_o="1000" height_o="1485" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/befd1a7dfd012d76ac6a6f190c2038a8c64860c7c1b55c4b0455245419cc27c0/Spaceballs-poster.jpeg" data-mid="156412309" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/befd1a7dfd012d76ac6a6f190c2038a8c64860c7c1b55c4b0455245419cc27c0/Spaceballs-poster.jpeg" /> Hi Chef Rashida, thanks for participating in this column dedicated to dinner and a movie, where a chef recommends a movie and pairs it with a recipe for something we can make at home. Before we get to your recommendations, you were just featured as a panelist at The New York Times Food Festival — alongside Danny Meyer and Kwame Onwuachi — to talk about The Future of Restaurants. What was that experience like? For those of us who couldn't attend, can you share any key questions, debates, or take-aways from your panel, in terms of shared concerns or aspirations? The biggest takeaway I had from the panel, which was a privilege to be a part of, was everyone embracing the change in restaurant labor, and how we treat our employees.&nbsp; I think this is going to profoundly affect how restaurants are structured in terms of pricing, hours of operation, and career trajectories for young people in the industry. It’s really a product of #MeToo that has had a lasting impact, and I’m here for it, because it will benefit the customer as well. Happy people make better food, as Danny said After taking in other facets of the festival (the other speakers, panels, and events), were there any culinary topics or ideas that were lingering in your mind on the way home? Oh yes! Stephen Satterfield's conversation with Priya Krishna really had a profound effect on me.&nbsp; He spoke about how in the past there was often only ever room for one excellent chef or restaurant of a traditionally “marginalized peoples” cuisine to exist. And often we found ourselves in a “crab in a bucket” mentality, pushing others out of the conversation. Meanwhile we have countless Italian, French, New American places that get to have a seat at the table. And true freedom is about all of us getting a seat, it’s the crab at the top, to go with this metaphor, making a chain and having everyone climb out of the bucket.&nbsp; I always tell folks my goal isn’t just to share Caribbean food with Los Angeles, I want there to be a top ten list of the best rotis in LA! And to be on it, I hope. Last year was a big year for Bridgetown Roti. You were voted Los Angeles Restaurant of the Year by Eater, and Pop-Up of the Year by Esquire. After a summer of pop-up events, you're now going back to regular kitchen service with pickup and delivery on October 14th — a boon for those of us in LA. On the topic of the future of restaurants, is there any Bridgetown news we can look forward to this winter or spring? Or what's next for you? Last year was a big year, and a surprising one at that.&nbsp; Our goal when we started all this was to get ourselves into brick and mortar and that’s still there.&nbsp; What we have managed to do in these past two years was build a really solid brand, way beyond our expectations.&nbsp; So there isn’t any news yet, but there will be if everything goes well!&nbsp; In the meantime, very excited to be a bit stationary after a busy summer Okay imagine you were hosting a Bridgetown movie night — or having a friend over for dinner and a movie. Since we're in October, it might be a favorite scary movie, or maybe it's just an all-time fave. Which movie would you screen? &nbsp; My wife hasn’t seen anything, so every once and while I make her watch a classic from my childhood. I love movies.&nbsp; Growing up we would either go to Blockbuster every Friday, where my brother and I would each get one, or we’d go to the movies on Sunday after sports/plays/church, etc.&nbsp; I’m not a huge scary movie person — my October favorites live in the Hocus Pocus realm. But lately I’ve realized that folks didn’t watch Mel Brooks growing up??? I’m pretty sure I learned how to be funny from those movies, so I would go with SPACEBALLS, or History of the World, Part I, or Blazing Saddles. Honestly any of them would do haha. Favorite quotes: Moses in History of the World, Part 1: “The Lord, the Lord Jehovah has given unto you these fifteen [drops one of the tablets] Oy! Ten! Ten Commandments!” “Call a locksmith!” and every Tracy Ulman scene in Robin Hood Men in Tights. “The radar sir! It appears to be Jammed!” “Raspberry...”&nbsp; “Comb the desert!” Yogurt and his merchandise, Ludicrous speed, Spaceball 1, They've gone to plaid!&nbsp; I could go on and on about Spaceballs! Every line is perfect. <img width="2222" height="1094" width_o="2222" height_o="1094" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c65e42e731503a2830a1d9cab31e60b9c68fca79260fbe753fca1b2bc19e5f62/Chef-Rashida.png" data-mid="156415007" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c65e42e731503a2830a1d9cab31e60b9c68fca79260fbe753fca1b2bc19e5f62/Chef-Rashida.png" /> Michael Winslow as a radar technician in SPACEBALLS (Mel Brooks, 1987) <img width="1276" height="672" width_o="1276" height_o="672" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/428d41b5b39b31a70e3f49e8eed10de26ce490b184bf3b0d1da81012c5d744bd/Comb-the-desert.jpeg" data-mid="156417170" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/428d41b5b39b31a70e3f49e8eed10de26ce490b184bf3b0d1da81012c5d744bd/Comb-the-desert.jpeg" /> Finally, and this one's for all the people who love to cook for friends at home, is there something you would make for dinner that night? Or what recipe would you pair with this movie?&nbsp; When I think movie night, I think pizza.&nbsp; And luckily for us the definition of pizza has gotten fast and loose. So I made a focaccia — spicy lamb curry style with red pepper sauce, mozzarella, shallot, finished with cilantro and a sharp goat or crumbled feta. But you can put anything on focaccia and it’s super easy to make. This is my favorite quickie recipe. Focaccia Pizza with Spicy Lamb Curry and Red Pepper Sauce Dough*&nbsp; 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed 2.5 teaspoons kosher salt, divided 1 1/2 teaspoons&nbsp;instant or active dry yeast 1 3/4 cups&nbsp;lukewarm water 6 tablespoons&nbsp;extra-virgin olive oil, divided *&nbsp;(prepare the night before) Pizza sauce 2 red bell peppers 1 28oz can whole tomatoes 6 cloves garlic 30 g fresh ginger 1 pound ground lamb 12 oz &nbsp;mozzarella 1/4 cup fresh mint 2 tablespoons curry spice mix (or masala) 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes Salt to taste 1/4 cup fresh basil or Thai basil For the Lamb In a medium saucepan on high heat, cook the lamb until all the moisture has gone and the meat is well browned.&nbsp; Season with salt, curry powder, and red pepper flakes. Chop 3 garlic cloves super fine, turn the heat off, and stir the garlic into the lamb. Let cool set aside Focaccia Place 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 1/2 teaspoons of the kosher salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons instant or active dry yeast in a large bowl and stir with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula to combine. Add 1 3/4 cups lukewarm water and 3 tablespoons of the extra-virgin olive oil and stir until no dry flour remains and a shaggy dough forms. Knead in the bowl a few times, sprinkling with a little more flour if needed, until a rough, sticky ball of dough forms. Tightly cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate the bowl of dough for at least 8 hours and up to 24. It will double in size. I like to do this the night before, it's quick and makes everything easy the next day. Turn the dough out onto a baking sheet&nbsp; Drizzle 2 tablespoons of the extra-virgin olive oil onto a 13x18-inch rimmed baking sheet. Remove the bowl of dough from the refrigerator and use your hands to transfer the dough to the prepared baking sheet (save the plastic wrap to use again to cover stretched dough and wash the bowl to use for making the sauce). Turn to coat in the oil, then gently press and flatten the dough until about 1-inch thick. (The dough will not reach the edges of the baking sheet.) Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest for 10 minutes. Uncover the dough and use your fingertips to stretch the dough to the edges of the baking sheet. If it starts to shrink back, let it rest for a few minutes, then try again. Cover again and let rest until puffed and slightly risen, about 25 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the oven and make the sauce. Heat the oven Arrange a rack in the lower third of the oven and heat the oven to 475°F. Hot Oven is key&nbsp; For the Sauce 1. Roast the bell peppers over your stove top's open flame until the outside is well charred, place peppers in bowl, cover with plastic to sweat for ten minutes. In a blender combine a drained can of tomatoes, the remaining garlic, ginger, and about a tablespoon of salt. Peel the peppers, remove the seeds and add to the blender. Blend until smooth, but if it's a little chunky that is also fine. Assembly! 1. Oil your fingertips well, uncover the dough and create dimples in the dough, across the entire surface. Don't be afraid to push all the way down to the bottom of the pan. Cover the dough with half of the mozzarella cheese, some spots without cheese are okay.&nbsp; Spread the sauce over the cheese, I like to go all the way to the edge with the sauce.&nbsp; Next add your curry lamb over the sauce, then sprinkle with the remaining mozz. 2. Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes until the edges are golden brown and the cheese has melted.&nbsp; Pull pizza out of the oven, garnish with the basil and mint.&nbsp; You can also add a little parmesan, I like pecorino, or even a little ricotta salata if you feel fancy. Taste, value, and efficiency are the cornerstones of Chef Rashida Holmes’ food and approach to the restaurant business. If those are in place, the love will flow onto the plate. She began her career in 2008 in Baltimore working full time at a local Italian restaurant while attending culinary school. In 2010 Holmes moved to Pittsburgh to work with the James Beard nominated Big Burrito group at their pan-Asian restaurant Soba. Shortly after moving to LA in 2013, she accepted a Chef de Cuisine position to open the French inspired Terrine in West Hollywood. Holmes’ experience with different cuisines, chefs, restaurants, and markets have given her a diverse perspective in this ever evolving industry. After positions as Executive Sous Chef a Freehand hotel and Botanica in Silverlake, Holmes’ began the pop-up concept Bridgetown Roti in 2019, an ode to her Afro-Caribbean roots. By Fall of 2020 Chef Holmes and Bridgetown Roti had served thousands with her take on Caribbean classics. Today Bridgetown has gained media coverage highlights with features in the The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Bon Apetit, and the Wall Street Journal. In 2021 Bridgetown Roti was named Eater’s Best new&nbsp; Restaurant in Los Angeles, and Pop-up of the year by Esquire Magazine. https://caligaripress.com/Filmmaker-Laszlo-Nemes-on-Cinema-v-Television-and-the-Historical-Draw Thu, 19 Nov 2020 02:22:26 +0000 CALIGARI https://caligaripress.com/Filmmaker-Laszlo-Nemes-on-Cinema-v-Television-and-the-Historical-Draw Filmmaker László Nemes on Cinema v. Television and the Historical Draw of Subjective Narration <img width="1440" height="1092" width_o="1440" height_o="1092" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/eb17a1a3fe7efc16dd3c59b1abaf41844f41e224cb4093284e0eaaa1aa0198f8/Nemes-Cover.png" data-mid="138807320" border="0" data-no-zoom src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/eb17a1a3fe7efc16dd3c59b1abaf41844f41e224cb4093284e0eaaa1aa0198f8/Nemes-Cover.png" /> Son of Saul (László Nemes, 2015) Director László Nemes was born in 1977 in Budapest, Hungary. After studying History, International Relations and Screenwriting in Paris, he worked as an assistant director in France and Hungary on short and feature films. He assisted Béla Tarr on The Man From London, and subsequently studied film directing at New York University. His shorts have been awarded thirty prizes in more than 100 international film festivals. His first feature, Son of Saul, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015, was awarded the Grand Prix, and later received both the Golden Globe and the Academy Award for Best foreign language film in 2016. His second feature film, Sunset, premiered at the 75th Venice International Film Festival in 2018, where it received the FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics) Award. All of your movies, starting with your first short, have been shot on 35mm film. You’ve also said that television is not the same as cinema and that cinema is now abandoning itself to the forces of content. Can you explain what you mean by this? How would you describe the difference between cinema and television? For me cinema is a hypnotic experience. As a viewer you sit in a dark theater and half of the time that you spend watching a 35mm print is actually in darkness. The other half is about still images becoming movement in your brain. It is a hypnotic, physiological experience that cannot be replaced by only the visual information of pixels. Cinema is very remote from televised experience. I think the fact that we live more and more in a virtual world, in a world that has no traces and no memory but only data, presents a civilizational challenge. I think it’s not only about cinema but about the entire civilization. To what extent are we willing to give up on physical and chemical existence and give ourselves over to an imagined virtual reality? That can be very dangerous. I don’t mean to go into a long monologue about this, but it’s just that we are losing so much. And I have to tell you, as a filmmaker, when I shoot on film, there is magic to it. Partly because you don’t have an immediate result, but also — you have to have a craft, you have to control the elements. Nobody does it for you. No machine replaces your brain, because you have to make the decisions before or during the shoot and not in post-production. Nobody corrects it for you. So we have to be present when we shoot on film, and this creates a focus, a concentration, that is unparalleled. Shooting on film is finite, not endless, because we are shooting on matter, on material that comes to an end. This creates an incredible state in the filmmaker that too many people are giving up on. <img width="1540" height="1102" width_o="1540" height_o="1102" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3c5c5dd31c4f54aac77701e58a5025820c8f0ea6c0eaeb22e1c7f8ca060852a4/Laszlo-Nemes-cover.png" data-mid="138337921" border="0" data-no-zoom src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3c5c5dd31c4f54aac77701e58a5025820c8f0ea6c0eaeb22e1c7f8ca060852a4/Laszlo-Nemes-cover.png" /> In terms of film being a finite material, your first short, With a Little Patience (2007), is a single, evolving 11-minute long take that spans the length of the reel. No cuts. It was your first collaboration with cinematographer Mátyás Erdély and introduced a technique you would employ again in the films that follow. Your camera clings to a single character who becomes our guide and leads us through an environment where we hear more than we see. I guess I’m interested in the subjective quality of human existence, which is overlooked more and more by the objective imagery that we as a society tend to favor. I want to go back to something very human and subjective and personal. We don’t perceive the world in an omniscient way, so I try to present perceptions as human beings in their limited world can perceive them. I think it’s more of a philosophy of how we are in the world, and how we perceive things. But also, maybe it’s about how mankind has evolved, and that’s why I’m interested in civilizational questions? What do we build with our hands as mankind? And how long can it last? I’m interested in taking the audience back to times that seem remote or for which we lack understanding because of how they have been conveyed in cinema in a very objective way. I want to go back and experience those times through the eyes of one individual. It’s a very instinctive approach or feeling that is translated into cinematic terms. That’s what I’ve been doing so far, and we’ll see what happens next. Can you say more about your strategy of withholding visual information? There is an ethical rationale in&nbsp;Son of Saul (2015), which is set within Auschwitz in 1944, but we find a similar approach in Sunset (2018), too, which is set in 1913 Budapest on the eve of World War I. What draws you to this restricted mode of narration when exploring the historical past? It has to do with how we perceive our world, and our past. We think all the time that we know much more than we actually do. The internet conveys and reinforces this in a spectacular manner. You have the impression that the camera is always there to film, to uncover things. The illusion of uncovering our world and the multiplication of angles that we are experiencing through television or the internet has affected filmmaking very much. The multiplication of angles gives the audience a distantiated position, but also one of tranquility. It’s a static position that is narcissistic and, in a way, full of illusions. That’s why my films go back to times past, to explore echoes of our own view of the world, our own illusions, and to move away from an understanding of the past as something static or completely understandable. The past is mysterious. Why did Europe go into a self-destructive mode a hundred years ago, for the first World War? That is a mystery and I think it’s not enough to be rational about it. It’s not enough to read history books. There is something deeper in civilization that I really wanted to deal with, some kind of destructive force, and I guess I set out to make Sunset for this reason. <img width="1000" height="563" width_o="1000" height_o="563" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e33e32b5405cd8c5b3787456c2ef6e077bbca45d9403f8befd81298ddd1b933f/sunset1.jpg" data-mid="89337066" border="0" data-no-zoom src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e33e32b5405cd8c5b3787456c2ef6e077bbca45d9403f8befd81298ddd1b933f/sunset1.jpg" /> Juli Jakob as Írisz Leiter in Sunset (László Nemes, 2018) You’ve said that actors are often expected to perform like washing machines with different loads of laundry — to laugh, to cry, to have this whole range of human emotions, whereas your approach to performance is more low-key. What are your thoughts on acting? I really think that the cinema of spectacle in the last thirty years, the ever-growing obligation to impress the audience, is actually giving rise to less and less involvement. It’s actually very anti-cinematic. This evolution was probably accompanied by television performance, by the explosion of our expectations regarding performance and how the actors should behave. There is now a well-defined path — storywise, as far as dramaturgy is concerned, as far as shot design is concerned, and as far as performance is concerned. This kind of well-planned journey is very anti-cinematic. Cinema should question the given order, as it did in the past. Different directors had different approaches to performance. I was very much impressed, and influenced I guess, by directors such as Robert Bresson in France, who is a lost tradition. In a way it is something more invisible, but in that less visible realm, something takes place. It’s not about the circus of performance, but something deeper and I think more vibrating in an unexpected way. That’s what I’m looking for: a sort of simplicity that we can achieve through focus. A lot of things can be expressed by a low-key approach. I really believe that certain echoes will be heard only when we allow them, through silence, to be heard. That’s the kind of cinema that I am interested in. Did Bresson influence the way you think about sound? Your movies are notable for the way you extend offscreen space through sound. We really believe in the fact that sound should not only repeat what you see in the image. It should open something different, you know? Another perspective in the brain of the audience. It’s not that I want to go against the trend, it’s just that conventions have narrowed and narrowed and narrowed down to something very simple, with image and sound pointing in the same direction. I think sound can be an incredible tool for the filmmaker. My aim is to bring sounds together like a musical composition, to open deeper psychological perspectives that images have less access to. It’s like seeing into the soul of the character, in a way. This is what sound can do. That’s why we create a dynamic range of sound, an ever-evolving whirlwind of sound and music and score going into the source, and source going into score, and having an entire composition, almost like a symphony of sound. I really believe in that. It was a very instinctive way of working, but it’s also very interesting as a way of giving the audience an insight into a character like Írisz in Sunset who is trying to piece things together. But it’s very hard. We have a main character who is lost in a world that was unfolding before the War, and her soul is a reflection of the period, I guess. <img width="1690" height="1230" width_o="1690" height_o="1230" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cf3990e275416342dd95176a48e361dcc8b0b79541e9d6683ec32eeec682cc48/Son-of-Saul-2.png" data-mid="138774046" border="0" data-no-zoom src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/cf3990e275416342dd95176a48e361dcc8b0b79541e9d6683ec32eeec682cc48/Son-of-Saul-2.png" /> Géza Röhrig as Saul in Son of Saul (László Nemes, 2015) Because your films are carefully constructed to align spectators with a single, subjective point of view, I wanted to ask about a notable exception to the rule. In the beginning of Son of Saul the camera clings to Saul’s body when he comes into focus and we stay very close to this body throughout the film. But in the end, after he looks out the door and sees a child, the camera detaches from Saul and follows the child into the woods. Likewise, in Sunset, the camera clings to Írisz throughout the entire film, until the end, when we have a scene where the camera wanders through the trenches, suddenly detached from Írisz’s perspective. I am curious about these moments where the camera suddenly detaches from the body and the consciousness that governs the film — from Saul, from Írisz — and assumes a point of view of its own as a way of concluding. I see directing as a dialectic or conflict between this very subjective, very strict point of view and the constant temptation to break out and try to find a sort of objectivity or global understanding of the world that is depicted. So I guess the ending of both films is a way of finally liberating ourselves from a point of view, which happens for different reasons in different films. But still, the way it becomes objective is still in a very subjective way, almost like a POV. In both films, the POV says something about the relation to the audience, and to the forces of civilization. You said that you were drawn to Sunset as a film that looks at a particular historical moment when civilization seems to be at its apex, but also has built up within itself its own capacity for self-destruction. I was reminded of Walter Benjamin’s “Theses on the Philosophy of History,” where he says that every document of civilization is also, at the same time, a document of barbarism, because in your film there’s a memorable line about how “the horror of the world hides within these infinitely beautiful things,” meaning the hats that are produced by the Leiter store. On the one hand we have the exquisite fabrics and sophisticated hats, and on the other, the social violence that explodes from within. In the director’s statement you published for the release of Sunset you wrote that you believe we’re living in a world that is not far from the one before the Great War of 1914, “a world utterly blind to the forces of destruction it feeds at its core.” Does looking at the historical moment you represent in the film Sunset say something about the world we are living in today? I wish I had more time to answer this question. Where should I begin? In the present we’re in a constant frustration of always thinking about the next moment, and also in a very narcissistic mode in the way we produce images of ourselves. In a way we feel that we’re in control, but history teaches us that civilizations come and go very fast. Our very existence is extremely limited, and this applies to civilizations, too. But we’re not necessarily aware of that. Before the First World War, Europe thought that because of its mastery of technology and technique and the incredible spiraling force of arts and sciences and ideas and ideologies, we thought we could not be defeated. And it’s just interesting how, mysteriously, we went to senseless destruction and from there to totalitarian regimes. The 20th century was, in a way, a complete destruction of all the illusions we had at the turn of the last century. Today we don’t really have a consciousness of that process.