Béla Tarr

Born: 1955-07-21

Béla Tarr (born July 21, 1955) is an acclaimed Hungarian film director. Much of his work is marked by philosophical elements and a pessimistic view of humanity. His films utilize unconventional storytelling methods, such as long takes and/or non-professional actors to achieve realism. Debuting with his film Family Nest in 1979, Tarr underwent a period of what he refers to as "social cinema", aimed at telling mundane stories about ordinary people, often in the style of cinema vérité. Over the next decade, the cinematography of Tarr's films gradually changed; Damnation (1988) was shot with languid camera movement aimed at establishing ambience. It marked Tarr's earliest experimentation with philosophical themes, focused mostly on bleak and desolate representations of reality. Sátántangó (1994) and Werckmeister Harmonies (2000) continued this approach; both are considered by some critics to be among the greatest films ever made. Tarr would later compete in the 2007 Cannes Film Festival with his film The Man From London. Frequent collaborators of Tarr include his wife Ágnes Hranitzky, novelist László Krasznahorkai, film composer Mihály Víg, cinematographer Fred Kelemen, and actress Erika Bók. After the release of his film The Turin Horse (2011), Tarr announced his definitive retirement from film direction. He has been teaching at the Sarajevo Film School since. Description above from the Wikipedia article Béla Tarr, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.


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The Doctor's Pupil

as uncredited
Released: 1984-03-05

Movie directed by Boris Rytsarev.

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365 Day Project

as uncredited
Released: 2007-12-31

This exhibition focuses on Jonas Mekas’ 365 Day Project, a succession of films and videos in...

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About Cinema

as Self
Released: 2015-09-15

An abandoned tumbledown theater in the outback of Paraíba state is the initial setting of a film...

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The Last Days of Humanity

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 2023-05-08

The panorama of human affairs encounters the “man with a movie camera”. His playground has no...

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FUKUSHIMA with Béla Tarr

as Self
Released: 2024-11-03

This film documents the "FUKUSHIMA with Béla Tarr", a filmmaking workshop in Fukushima conducted...

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The State That I Am Fish

as Béla Tarr
Released: 2011-09-17

A film within a film within a film within a fish.

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Season of Monsters

as uncredited
Released: 1987-09-15

Zoltai is a Hungarian professor who returns home after a visit to the United States. Following a...

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Tarr Béla: I Used to Be a Filmmaker

as Himself
Released: 2014-04-15

A documentary about the making of The Turin Horse, the last film directed by Hungarian master...

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Béla Tarr: Mysterious Harmonies

as Himself
Released: 2008-12-22

Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr and film critic Howard Feinstein discuss his innovative...

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