Natural Light

Dénes Nagy won Best Director at the 2021 Berlin Film Festival for his powerful feature debut with its breathtaking visual style. Deep into the Second World War and in the heart of Hungary, which allied with Nazi Germany, a small unit of soldiers hunt down any partisan opposition among remote villages. After the death of the unit commander, Corporal István Semetka is forced to take charge and faces new orders for stronger measures against the villagers. ‘An absorbing, beautifully crafted, thought-provoking addition to the new Hungarian cinematic wave…’ (Screen International)

‘I’m most looking for stories about faces and landscapes, connections between faces and landscapes, and at the same time it’s important me to look for stories which kind of go into the unknown or have the feeling of going into unknown territory. Also a feeling of darkness around or of darkness coming closer to you, and you lose your orientation in this situation – where to go, how to understand things. I found a book which gave a clue or gave a direction to this. I really felt that this vast Russian landscape where these soldiers come – they are strangers to this land, they don’t speak the language of the locals, they don’t understand the area, they don’t where is the enemy, who is the enemy – so it has something that has the feeling of not knowing what is coming next, not knowing how to react.’

Dénes Nagy, Director – from an interview with Cineuropa.