Hungarian poet Géza Röhrig – who is now based in New York City – had not acted in film since the 1980s, was considered for a supporting role, but ended up being cast in the head role.Īt the time he was cast in the film – which is his feature film debut – lead actor Géza Röhrig was working as a Shomer in a Manhattan funeral home. The book is a collection of witness accounts by Sonderkommando members, and Nemes discovered the book during the production of Béla Tarr’s ‘The Man from London’ in 2005 when he was working as Tarr’s assistant.ĭirector Nemes wanted to cast actors to speak in their native languages. The risk paid off, ‘Son of Saul’ won Grand Prix at Cannes last year.ĭirector László Nemes came up with the idea of the film from the book ‘The Scrolls of Auschwitz’. The film was selected to play at the Panorama section at Berlin, so the producers took their chances and pulled the film from the festival entirely, aiming for Cannes instead. ‘Son of Saul’ debuted at the Cannes Film Festival last year but was originally entered into the Berlin Film Festival.

‘Son of Saul’ is director László Nemes’ first feature length film, and went on to win the award for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars earlier this year. To celebrate the release of the critically beloved film, Movies.ie have gathered together 10 facts about ‘Son of Saul’ that you really need to know. Determined to give the boy a proper burial, Saul sets out on a journey through the various factions of the camp looking first for the boy’s body, then for a rabbi who will help him in his mission. Saul (Géza Röhrig) is tasked with clearing out the gas chambers, when he discovers a young boy still breathing. László Nemes’ film ‘Son of Saul’ is released in Irish cinemas this week, and tells the story of the final days of Nazi Germany, through the eyes of a Hungarian prisoner at a concentration camp.

Son of saul trailer