The European Film Academy confirmed on Tuesday that Tarr passed away earlier that morning after a long illness. A member of the academy since 1997, Tarr was remembered as “an outstanding director and a personality with a strong political voice,” admired by colleagues and audiences around the world. His family has asked for privacy during this time.
Tarr was widely regarded as one of the pioneers of “slow cinema,” a movement defined by long, unbroken takes, minimal dialogue, stark black-and-white imagery and a rejection of conventional storytelling. His films often lingered on silence, repetition and bleak landscapes, turning ordinary moments into profound meditations on human existence.
That approach reached its most extreme and influential form in Sátántangó, a seven-and-a-half-hour epic released in 1994. Set in a decaying Hungarian village after the fall of communism, the film follows a group of residents clinging to false hope amid moral collapse. Despite — or because of — its length and rigor, “Sátántangó” became a landmark of world cinema and is frequently cited among the greatest films ever made.
Born in Pécs, Hungary, on July 21, 1955, Tarr began making films as a teenager after appearing in small television roles as a child. His early amateur work caught the attention of Béla Balázs Studios, which supported his debut feature, Family Nest, a raw social drama that reflected his early interest in realism and class struggle.
After graduating from the Academy of Theatre and Film in Budapest in 1982, Tarr founded the Társulás Filmstúdió, where he made several early films, including The Outsider, The Prefab People and Almanac of Fall. The studio was shut down in 1985 for political reasons, as Tarr was openly critical of authority and identified with anarchist ideas.
His international breakthrough came with Damnation, Hungary’s first independent film. Premiering at the Berlin Film Festival, the bleak story of an isolated man in love with a married singer introduced Tarr’s now-famous slow camera movements and atmospheric precision to a global audience.
Further acclaim followed with Werckmeister Harmonies, co-directed and edited by his wife and longtime collaborator Ágnes Hranitzky. Composed of just 39 shots, the film explores chaos, power and fear as a mysterious circus arrives in a small town during Hungary’s communist era.
Tarr’s later work included The Man From London, starring Tilda Swinton, and The Turin Horse, a stark, repetitive meditation inspired by the legend surrounding philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. “The Turin Horse” won the Grand Jury Prize at the Berlin Film Festival, after which Tarr announced it would be his final film.
Following his retirement from filmmaking, Tarr turned his focus to education. In 2012, he founded the Film.Factory school in Sarajevo, where he taught and mentored young filmmakers until 2016. The program welcomed prominent guest teachers, including Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Gus van Sant, Juliette Binoche and Jacques Rancière.
Though his films were often described as difficult or demanding, Tarr believed cinema should challenge viewers rather than comfort them. His work reshaped the language of film and influenced generations of directors who saw slowness not as emptiness, but as a path to deeper truth.
Béla Tarr is survived by Ágnes Hranitzky.
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