Hungarian director Béla Tarr, renowned for his darkly comedic and unique films, has passed away.
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Filmmaker Bence Fliegauf announced Tarr’s death on behalf of the family Tuesday morning via Hungary’s national news agency, MTI.
The Hungarian Filmmakers’ Association (via the Associated Press) also confirmed his death on Tuesday, stating: “With deep sorrow we announce that, after a long and serious illness, film director Béla Tarr passed away early this morning.”
Tarr was 70.
Born in Pécs, Hungary, in 1955, Tarr began his career at the Balázs Béla Stúdió, one of Hungary’s most important studios for experimental film. There, he made his feature directorial debut with Family Nest (1977), which won the Grand Prix at the Mannheim Film Festival. Following this success, Tarr enrolled in the Academy of Theatre and Film in Budapest.
He graduated in 1982 and founded Társulás Filmstúdió, where he worked until its closure in 1985. Tarr gained international recognition in 1988 with his feature film Damnation, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and earned him the Best Young Film Award at the European Film Awards.
Bela Tarr Directed His Signature Film in 1994
He is perhaps best known for his 1994 film Sátántangó, a 450-minute adaptation of László Krasznahorkai’s novel. The film debuted at the Berlin International Film Festival and quickly gained cult status, often cited as one of the most important films of the 1990s. It is also considered a cornerstone of the contemporary slow cinema movement. In 2019, a 4K restoration of the film screened at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival with Tarr’s approval.
Per IMDb, Tarr directed nine features in total, the last of which was The Turin Horse (2011), winner of the Jury Prize at Berlin.
In recent years, Tarr has served as a visiting professor at several institutions, including the Filmakademie BW Ludwigsburg, Le Fresnoy – Studio national des arts contemporains in Lille, and FreeSzfe Budapest.
In 2023, he was honored with the European Film Academy’s Honorary Award.