Nemes Returns to Venice With Orphan, a Postwar Drama

Hungarian filmmaker László Nemes returned to the Venice Film Festival this week with Orphan, a personal postwar drama that has its world premiere in the festival’s competition program on Aug. 28. Set in 1957 Budapest in the aftermath of the failed anti‑Communist uprising, the film follows 12‑year‑old Andor, raised on idealized stories of a father presumed lost to the war, whose life unravels when a brutish man arrives claiming to be his father.

Nemes, whose debut Son of Saul won the Cannes Grand Prix and an Academy Award, co‑wrote Orphan with Clara Royer and drew on his own family history. The production, shot on 35mm and lensed by longtime collaborator Mátyás Erdély, stars newcomer Bojtorján Barábas as Andor, with Andrea Waskovics and the French actor Grégory Gadebois among the supporting cast. The film was produced by teams including Pioneer Pictures and Good Chaos, and international sales are being handled by Charades and New Europe Film Sales.

Orphan explores intergenerational trauma and identity against broader historical forces. Nemes has described the story as inspired by his father’s upbringing and likened its structure to Hamlet, centering on the ghostly absence of a...