Béla Tarr

Biography

Early life

Tarr was born on 21 July 1955 in Pécs, but grew up in Budapest.{{cite book

At the age of ten, Tarr was taken to a casting session run by Hungarian National Television by his mother, and he ultimately won the role of the protagonist's son in a TV drama adaptation of Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich. Other than a small role in Miklós Jancsó's film Szörnyek évadja (Season of Monsters, 1986) and few one-glimpse cameos (such as in Gábor Bódy's Dog's Night Song [1983]), Tarr has sought no other acting roles.

Tarr's father bought him a 8mm camera for his fourteenth birthday. At age sixteen, Tarr founded a filmmaking group with friends called Dziga Vertov (a reference to the Dziga Vertov Group). They made a film called Guest Workers which won first prize at an amateur film festival. As a result of this film, he was questioned by communist authorities. He applied to study philosophy at university, but he was rejected from all higher education in the country, so he sought odd jobs and continued to make amateur films.

By his own account, initially he sought to become a philosopher, and considered film-making as something of a hobby. However, after making his 8mm short films, the Hungarian government would not allow Tarr to attend university so he instead chose to pursue film production.

Artistic and professional career

Tarr began to realize his interest in film making at the age of 16 by making amateur films and later working as a caretaker at a national House for Culture and Recreation. Most of his amateur works were documentaries, mostly about the life of workers or poor people in urban Hungary. His amateur work brought him to the attention of the Béla Balázs Studios (named in honor of the Hungarian cinema theorist) which helped fund Tarr's 1977 feature debut, Családi tűzfészek (Family Nest), which Tarr began filming at age 22. He shot the film in six days with little budget and using non-professional actors. The film was faithful to the "Budapest school" or "documentarist" style popular at the time within Béla Balázs Studios, maintaining absolute social realism on screen. Critics found the film to suggest the influence of the American director John Cassavetes, although Tarr denied having seen any of Cassavetes's films prior to shooting Családi tűzfészek (Family Nest), which was released in 1979.

After completing Családi tűzfészek, Tarr began his studies in the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest. The 1980 film Szabadgyalog (The Outsider) and the following year's Panelkapcsolat (The Prefab People) continued in much the same vein, with small changes in style. The latter was the first film by Tarr to feature professional actors in the leading roles. With a 1982 television adaptation of Macbeth, his work began to change dramatically. The film is composed of only two shots: the first shot (before the main title) is five minutes long, the second 57 minutes long.

After 1984's Őszi almanach (Almanac of Fall), Tarr (who had written his first four features alone) began collaborating with Hungarian novelist László Krasznahorkai for 1988's Kárhozat (Damnation). A planned adaptation of Krasznahorkai's epic novel Sátántangó took over seven years to realize; the 415-minute film was finally released to international acclaim in 1994. After this epic he released the 35-minute Journey on the Plain in 1995, but fell into silence until 2000's Werckmeister Harmóniák (Werckmeister Harmonies). It was acclaimed by critics and the Festival circuit in general.

Many, if not most, of the shots in these later films are around six to eleven minutes long. It is possible that for some, a month was spent on a single shot. In many of these shots the camera swoops, glides, pans, and/or cranes. Often it circles the characters, and sometimes even spans multiple scenes. A shot may, as in the opening of Sátántangó, travel with a herd of cows around a village, or follow the nocturnal peregrinations of a drunkard who is forced to leave his house because he's run out of alcohol. American writer and critic Susan Sontag championed Tarr as one of the saviors of modern cinema, saying she would gladly watch Sátántangó once a year.

After Werckmeister Harmonies he began filming A Londoni férfi (The Man From London) an adaptation of a Georges Simenon novel. It was scheduled to be released at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival in May, but production was postponed because of the February suicide of producer Humbert Balsan. Additionally, there were disputes with other producers regarding a possible change in the film's financing. It premiered at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and was released worldwide in 2008. Tarr then began working on a film called A torinói ló (The Turin Horse) which he said would be his last.

For many years, none of his work was available on DVD (except in Japan), but Werckmeister Harmonies and Damnation have been made available on a two-disc DVD in Europe, courtesy of Artificial Eye (who have also issued The Man From London) and both films are now available in North America on separate DVDs from Facets Video. Tarr's early works; Family Nest, The Outsider, and The Prefab People are also available on DVD in the US, courtesy of Facets. Facets was supposed to release Sátántangó on DVD on 28 November 2006 but was delayed until 22 July 2008. Artificial Eye released the film on 14 November 2006. A comparison of the two DVD editions has been posted at DVD Beaver. and was made available for online streaming by the Criterion Channel.

In January 2011, Tarr joined the Board of Directors of the recently formed cinema foundation and NGO for human rights Cine Foundation International. In a press release dated 24 January 2011 Tarr made the following statement regarding the imprisonment of filmmakers Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof: :Cinematography is an integral part of universal human culture! An attack against cinematography is desecrating universal human culture! This cannot be justified by any notion, ideology or religious conviction! Our friend, brother and esteemed colleague Jafar Panahi is in prison today, based on conjured and fictional accusations! Jafar did not do anything else than what is the duty of all of us; to talk honestly, fairly about our own country and loved ones, to show everything that surrounds us with tender tolerance and harsh austerity! Jafar's real crime is that he did just that; gracefully, elegantly and with a roguish smile in his eyes! Jafar made us love his heroes, the people of Iran; he achieved that they have become members of our families! WE CANNOT LOSE HIM! This is our common responsibility, as despite all appearances we belong together.

In July 2021, he executive-produced the Icelandic-Swedish-Polish horror-drama film Lamb, directed by his former student at film.factory, Valdimar Jóhannsson.

Death

On 6 January 2026, Tarr died at a Budapest hospital at the age of 70, after a long and serious illness.[[File:Bela Tarr TIFF 2018.jpg|thumb|Tarr presenting a film by [[Hu Bo]] in 2018]]

Awards

In 1979, he received the Grand Prize for his film Family Nest at the Mannheim–Heidelberg International Film Festival. In 1982, he received a Special Mention Award for the film The Prefab People at the Locarno International Film Festival. Two years later, at the same festival, Tarr received the Ernest Artaria Award for his film Almanac of Fall. In 1988, he received the Bronze Rosa Camuna Award for his film Damnation at the Bergamo Film Meeting.

In 1994, he received several awards for the film Satantango, including the Caligari Film Award (Berlin International Film Festival), the National Society of Film Critics Award for Experimental Film, the Âge d'Or Prize (Brussels Prix de l’Âge d’Or), the Grand Prix of the Jury (Budapest Hungarian Film Week), as well as the FIPRESCI Prize and the Golden Moon Award for Best Director at the Faro Island Film Festival.

In 2001, he received the Berliner Zeitung Jury Award for his film Werckmeister Harmonies at the Berlin International Film Festival. In 2005, he received the France Culture Award (Foreign Filmmaker of the Year) for the film Damnation.

In February 2011, he received the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize and the Competition FIPRESCI Prize at the 61st Berlin Film Festival for his film The Turin Horse. In September 2012, he received the BIAFF special award for lifetime achievement. In 2016, he was appointed Honorary Professor at the Beijing Film Academy. In 2017, he was awarded the Honorary Medal and appointed Honorary Professor at Wuhan University. In June 2017, he received the lifetime achievement at Sardinia Film Festival, XII edition. In 2021, he received the Homeland Award in Budapest.

In December 2022, he received the lifetime achievement award at International Film Festival of Kerala, IFFK, 27th edition. In December 2023, he received the Honarary Award of the EFA President and Board at the 36th European Film Awards. In 2023, he was conferred an Honorary Doctorate by FAMU - Prague University of the Arts.

In November 2024, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 37th Tokyo International Film Festival, TIFF.

Political views

In his later high school years, Tarr became an anarchist. Speaking to Partizán, a left-wing podcast, he said that during his last years of high school, he "didn't even take [his] schoolbag" because "[he] had Mao's Bible in [his] pocket".

In an interview in 2023 Tarr said "I still consider myself an anarchist". Tarr was an atheist.

Tarr was a critic of nationalism. In a 2016 interview said, "Trump is the shame of the United States. Mr. Orbán is the shame of Hungary. Marine Le Pen is the shame of France. Et cetera." In a letter hung near the entrance to a pro-migration exhibition in front of the Hungarian Parliament, Tarr wrote, "We have brought the planet to the brink of catastrophe with our greediness and our unlimited ignorance. With the horrible wars we waged with the goal of robbing the people there. [...] Now we are confronted with the victims of our acts. We must ask the question: who are we, and what morality do we represent when we build a fence to keep out these people?"

In December 2023, alongside 50 other filmmakers, Tarr signed an open letter published in Libération demanding a ceasefire and an end to the killing of civilians amid the 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, and for a humanitarian corridor into Gaza to be established for humanitarian aid, and the release of hostages.

Legacy

Art

Gus Van Sant often cites Tarr as a huge influence on his later work, beginning with Gerry when Van Sant began using very long uninterrupted takes.

Anarchist movement

After his death, Freedom published an eulogy in his honour, saying about him that: "his social realism was always suspicious of established power". This appreciation was shared by Autonomies.

Filmography

Feature films

• Családi tűzfészek / Family Nest (1979)
• Szabadgyalog / The Outsider (1981)
• Panelkapcsolat / The Prefab People (1982)
• Őszi almanach / Almanac of Fall (1984)
• Kárhozat / Damnation (1988)
• Sátántangó / Satantango (1994)
• Werckmeister harmóniák / Werckmeister Harmonies (2000)
• A londoni férfi / The Man from London (2007)
• A torinói ló / The Turin Horse (2011)

Television films

• Macbeth (1982)

Short films

• Hotel Magnezit (1978)
• Cinemarxisme (1979)
• Utazás az alföldön / Journey on the Plain (1995)
• Visions of Europe (2004)
  • segment: Prologue

Documentary films

• Az utolsó hajó / The Last Boat (1990, 31 min), segment from City Life
• Muhamed (2017, 10 min)
• Missing People (2019, 95 min)

References

Sources

• Ramón Andrés, «Nada. A propósito de El caballo de Turín de Béla Tarr», en Pensar y no caer (Barcelona: Acantilado, 2016), pp. 195–220.
• Thorsten Botz-Bornstein, Organic Cinema: Film Architecture, and the Work of Bela Tarr (New York: Berghahn, 2017)
• Jacques Rancière, Béla Tarr, the Time After (Minneapolis: Univocal, 2013)
• András Bálint Kovács, The Cinema of Béla Tarr: The Circle Closes (London: Wallflower, 2013)
• Ira Jaffe: Slow Movies, Countering the Cinema of Action (New York: Wallflower Press, 2014)

References

1. "Béla Tarr, Hungarian Master of Slow Cinema, Dies at 70".
2. Nick James. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120802234411/http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/49591 Syndromes of a new century]. ''Sight & Sound'', February 2010
3. "A personal report on an adventure called film.factory".
4. "Gus Van Sant to teach in Sarajevo".
5. "Béla Tarr—Till the End of the World – W86th".
6. Romney, Jonathan. (2001-03-24). "Out of the shadows". The Guardian.
7. Bálint Kovács, András. (2013). "The Cinema of Béla Tarr: The Circle Closes". Columbia University Press.
8. Bálint Kovács, András. (2013). "The Cinema of Béla Tarr: The Circle Closes". Columbia University Press.
9. Sontag, Susan. (December 1999). "Features". Artforum Media, LLC.
10. . (19 February 2020). ["Sátántangó Blu-ray"](https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=26434).
11. . (31 August 2020). ["The Criterion Channel’s September 2020 Lineup"](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/7081-the-criterion-channel-s-september-2020-lineup).
12. "Berlinale Film Awards, 2011".
13. (14 July 2021). "'Lamb' ('Dýrið'): Film Review {{!}} Cannes 2021".
14. (6 January 2026). "Béla Tarr, Hungarian director of Sátántangó and Werckmeister Harmonies, dies aged 70". [[The Guardian]].
15. (6 January 2026). "Béla Tarr, legendary Hungarian filmmaker dies aged 70". [[Telex.hu.
16. (6 January 2026). "Bela Tarr, Titan of Slow-Moving Cinema, Dies at 70". [[The New York Times]].
17. "Werckmeister Harmonies".
18. (2006-09-13). "Director Tarr to Receive Life Achievement Award at Split Festival".
19. (2011-02-19). "The Awards / Die Preise". [[Berlin International Film Festival]].
20. "Biaff - winners".
21. "FESTIVALS: BIAFF Grand Prix award goes to In Darkness".
22. (2022-11-29). "IFFK lifetime achievement award for Hungarian filmmaker Bela Tarr". The Hindu.
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24. "Honorary Doctorates Awarded by the AMU".
25. Shackleton, Liz. (21 October 2024). "Bela Tarr To Receive Lifetime Achievement Award At Tokyo Film Festival".
26. (2023-03-24). ""Kozmikus a szar" {{!}} életútinterjú Tarr Bélával [interview with ENG subs with Béla Tarr]". Partizán.
27. (2023-03-24). ""Kozmikus a szar" {{!}} életútinterjú Tarr Bélával [interview with ENG subs with Béla Tarr]". Partizán.
28. (July 18, 2016). "Notebook Interview - "Be More Radical Than Me!": A Conversation with Béla Tarr".
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30. Gray, Carmen. (16 February 2017). "Béla Tarr: what can a new scene add to the legacy of a great director?". Calvin 22 Foundation.
31. (28 December 2023). "Gaza : des cinéastes du monde entier demandent un cessez-le-feu immédiat". [[Libération]].
32. Newman, Nick. (29 December 2023). "Claire Denis, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Christian Petzold, Apichatpong Weerasethakul & More Sign Demand for Ceasefire in Gaza".
33. (31 December 2023). "Directors of cinema sign petition for immediate ceasefire". [[The Jerusalem Post]].
34. Jones, Jenny. (17 March 2008). "Gus Van Sant in the light of Béla Tarr". blogs.walkerart.org.
35. Thaçi, Bleart. "Béla Tarr (1955-2026)".
36. Gavroche, Julius. (2026-01-09). "For Béla Tarr (1955-2026)".
37. "Béla Tarr Movies List".
38. "Panelkapcsolat (The Prefab People)".
39. "Macbeth · Shakespeare".
40. "Hotel Magnezit, Béla Tarr".
41. "The Analytical Camera and the Economy of Relationships. The Case of Cinemarxisme (1979)".
42. Felperin, Leslie. (2004-09-28). "Visions of Europe".
43. (2011). "The Last Boat".
44. "Muhamed".
45. Chatrian, Carlo. (2020). "On Béla Tarr’s latest work Missing People".
46. Wilmington, Michael. (10 May 1996). "HUNGARIAN BELA TARR'S GENIUS ON VIEW DURING FACETS RETROSPECTIVE". Chicago Tribune.
47. Ankeny, Jason. "Béla Tarr > Overview". [[Allmovie]] (All Media Guide).
48. Garage. "Bela Tarr Joins Cine Foundation International's Board of Directors on Production Notes". Mubi.com.
49. "Béla Tarr Joins Cine Foundation International's Board of Directors | Cine Foundation International".
50. (20 March 2005). "'Man' overboard in Corsica". Variety.
51. "Festival de Cannes: The Man from London". festival-cannes.com.
52. "Satantango - Mihály Vig". Dvdbeaver.com.