On April 16th, Sunset, written and directed by László Nemes and shortlisted in the Competition Section of Tiantan Award, held a press conference at Beijing Hotel?Nuo. Actress Juli Jakab and production designer László Rajk attended the conference.

　　In 1913, Europe, the young ?risz Leiter arrives in the Hungarian capital with high hopes to work as a milliner at the legendary hat store that belonged to her late parents. She is nonetheless sent away by the new owner, Oszkár Brill. While preparations are under way at the Leiter hat store, to host guests of uttermost importance, a man abruptly comes to ?risz, looking for a certain Kálmán Leiter. Refusing to leave the city, the young woman follows Kálmán’s tracks, her only link to a lost past. Her quest brings her through the dark streets of Budapest, where only the Leiter hat store shines, into the turmoil of a civilization on the eve of its downfall.

　　The film was selected into the competition section of the 75th Venice International Film Festival and awarded the FIPRESCI Prize. It was also Hungary’s entry to the Academy Award for Foreign Language Film.

　　László Rajk, production designer of the film, focused on designing the essential environment and a space that’s more pertaining to the whole cast represented by the actress and where they felt easier to play their roles. When creating scenes, after consultation and agreement with director and photography director of the film, Rajk leverage unique techniques that created an environment full of “sense of belonging”. In modern settings, if we film urban streets, models are usually set up for the scenes. Rajk and his team went the other way around and put their studio back into the city. From the perspective of art, both the cast and the photography director would feel more realistic and deliver more coherent and powerful performance.

　　?risz Leiter played by Juli Jakab is at ease in the constantly changing environment. She acts confidently but fails to change anything. It seems that she lives in a separate space as an outsider far away from the mess in Budapest. A number of roles are evolved in the intense corruption and changes of capitalism, some roles give in to increasingly severe riot while brave ?risz Leiter refuses to stand in either party.

　　Apart from the Sunset, Juli Jakab also starred in László Nemes’ Son of Saul, winner of the 88th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. They’ve known each other for about a decade and it was thus natural for Nemes to invite Jakab for audition at the beginning of this project. According to Jakab, the casting lasted over ten months. She felt that he was not just looking for an actress but someone who could actually represent the heroine.

　　Rajk also shared a story about casting. He was at the casting site of the film and noticed that Jakab attracted the most attention among great many auditioned actresses. Meanwhile, the director and photography director were exchanging looks and smile. It became obvious that Jakab is the perfect choice for the heroine.

　　When asked if she would like to collaborate with Chinese filmmakers, Juli Jakab, who is writing a script, said: “Sure, I’d very much like to work with Chinese filmmakers. It would be very exciting. I do hope I could be part of future cooperation between Hungary and China.”

　　At the end of the press conference, both guests expressed how honored they felt to have been invited to the Beijing International Film Festival and to present this film to Chinese audience.