Bela Tarr, Hungarian director of slow-moving cinema, dies at 70
Béla Tarr, the Hungarian filmmaker celebrated for his long, challenging, and visually striking films such as Sátántangó, Werckmeister Harmonies, and The Man from London, has died at the age of 70.
The Hungarian Film Artists Association said in a statement that Tarr passed away on Tuesday "after a long and serious illness," adding that "the grieving family asks for the understanding of the press and the public, and that they not be contacted for a statement during these difficult days."
Tarr gained international recognition in the 1990s and 2000s as his films reached wider audiences.
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His work stood out not only for its extraordinary length, including the seven-and-a-half-hour Sátántangó, but also for what many saw as a definitive portrayal of Central European bleakness in stark black and white.
Many of his films were created in close collaboration with his partner Ágnes Hranitzky, who started as an editor on his projects and was credited as co-director from Werckmeister Harmonies onwards.
Born in 1955 and raised in Budapest, Tarr grew up in an artistic family: his father was a scene painter, and his mother a stage prompter.
He began his career as a child actor, appearing in a TV adaptation of Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich.
As a teenager, he started making 8mm short documentaries and eventually made his feature directorial debut in 1979 with the realist drama Family Nest, which explored Hungary's housing shortage.
