Hungarian film director, screenwriter, and producer Bela Tarr has passed away. He was known for his films based on the works of writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2025.
Elchi.az reports that, according to the Hungarian Association of Cinematographers, Tarr died at the age of 70 “after a long and serious illness.”
Tarr was born in Pécs in 1955 into a theatrical family. After graduating from the Budapest Academy of Theatre and Film Arts with a degree in directing, he began working in cinema. From 1987, he collaborated with Krasznahorkai and made several films based on his novels and screenplays. These include “Damnation” (1988), “Sátántangó” (1994), and “Werckmeister Harmonies” (2000).
Tarr’s last feature film, “The Turin Horse,” was shot in 2011, again based on a screenplay by Krasznahorkai. This black-and-white film, which raised issues of human existence, was awarded the Silver Bear, the Jury Grand Prix at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival.
From 1981 to 1990, Tarr was the director of Mafilm, Hungary’s main film studio. From 2011 to 2023, he headed the Hungarian Association of Cinematographers, and later he was elected its honorary director. Tarr has been awarded Hungarian state awards and is a laureate of the Lajos Kossuth Prize, which is awarded for outstanding achievements in culture, literature, and art. According to surveys conducted among film critics by the influential British film magazine “Sight and Sound,” he is among the world’s best film directors.
Məryəm