Béla Tarr

Directing

Béla Tarr

Born 1955-07-21 · Pécs, Hungary

Béla Tarr (July 21, 1955 – January 6, 2026) was a Hungarian filmmaker. 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 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. Tarr died on 6 January 2026 following a long and serious illness. Description above from the Wikipedia article Béla Tarr, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

365 Day Project poster
10.0

This exhibition focuses on Jonas Mekas’ 365 Day Project, a succession of films and videos in calendar form. Every day as of January 1st, 2007 and for an entire year, as indicated in the title, a large public (the artist's friends, as well as unknowns) were invited to view a diary of short films of various lengths (from one to twenty minutes) on the Internet. A movie was posted each day, adding to the previously posted pieces, resulting altogether in nearly thirty-eight hours of moving images.

365 Day Project

2007

About Cinema poster
8.2

An abandoned tumbledown theater in the outback of Paraíba state is the initial setting of a film about cinema, which explores the testimonials of the novelist and playwright Ariano Suassuna and other filmmakers such as Ruy Guerra, Julio Bressane, Ken Loach, Andrzej Wajda, Karim Ainouz, José Padilha, Hector Babenco, Vilmos Zsigmond, Béla Tarr, Gus Van Sant and Jia Zhangke. They all respond to two basic questions: why do they make movies and why do they serve the seventh art. The filmmakers share their thoughts about time, narrative, rhythm, light, movement, the meaning of tragedy, the audience‘s desires and the boundaries with other forms of art.

About Cinema

2015

The State That I Am Fish poster
3.0

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

The State That I Am Fish

2011

Season of Monsters poster
5.5

Zoltai is a Hungarian professor who returns home after a visit to the United States. Following a television interview, he commits suicide and leaves a note for his longtime friend Dr. Bardocz. The doctor and Zoltai's colleague Komindi join the police in investigating what drove the man to suicide.

Season of Monsters

1987

FUKUSHIMA with BÉLA TARR poster
NR

"My goal is not education, but liberation." In February 2024, a filmmaking workshop takes place in Fukushima under the guidance of the Hungarian master, Béla Tarr. Observing him mentor the students offers a glimpse into his unique perspective on cinema and his profound approach to the art of film.

FUKUSHIMA with BÉLA TARR

2025

The Doctor's Pupil poster
5.1

An enterprising young man who practices medicine, striving to win the affection of his beloved, vows to cure her mother of a serious illness. To truly learn the secrets of medicine, he has to pretend to be deaf and mute and hire himself out as an assistant to the best doctor. Will the hero be able to keep his promise?

The Doctor's Pupil

1984

No artwork available
9.0

Based on Tolstoy's short novel, The Death of Ivan Ilyich was made with Lajos Básti in the great title role of the St Petersburg forensic judge. This timeless work is also about acceptance, moral values, empathy and the often difficult-to-decipher intricacies of human relationships.

Iván Iljics halála

1965

No artwork available
NR

Twenty well-known Hungarian artists - 10 right-wing (said to be) and 10 left-liberal (said to be) writers, directors, actors, musicians talk about the regime change and what has happened to us here in the last 30 years.

A Country Divided

2018

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Il vento del cinema

Tarr Béla: I Used to Be a Filmmaker poster
6.6

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

Tarr Béla: I Used to Be a Filmmaker

2014

Béla Tarr: Mysterious Harmonies poster
NR

Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr and film critic Howard Feinstein discuss his innovative filmography, punctuated by clips from his films.

Béla Tarr: Mysterious Harmonies

2008

Behind the camera

Satantango poster
8.0

Inhabitants of a small village in Hungary deal with the effects of the fall of Communism. The town's source of revenue, a factory, has closed, and the locals, who include a doctor and three couples, await a cash payment offered in the wake of the shuttering. Irimias, a villager thought to be dead, returns and, unbeknownst to the locals, is a police informant. In a scheme, he persuades the villagers to form a commune with him.

Satantango

1994

Satantango poster
8.0

Inhabitants of a small village in Hungary deal with the effects of the fall of Communism. The town's source of revenue, a factory, has closed, and the locals, who include a doctor and three couples, await a cash payment offered in the wake of the shuttering. Irimias, a villager thought to be dead, returns and, unbeknownst to the locals, is a police informant. In a scheme, he persuades the villagers to form a commune with him.

Satantango

1994

Werckmeister Harmonies poster
7.9

A naive young man witnesses an escalation of violence in his small hometown following the arrival of a mysterious circus attraction.

Werckmeister Harmonies

2001

The Turin Horse poster
7.6

A look at the monotonous daily struggle of a father and daughter in a windswept, desolate landscape. Over six days, their routine of eating boiled potatoes and tending a failing horse crumbles, symbolizing a slow descent into darkness, emptiness, and the end of existence.

The Turin Horse

2011

The Turin Horse poster
7.6

A look at the monotonous daily struggle of a father and daughter in a windswept, desolate landscape. Over six days, their routine of eating boiled potatoes and tending a failing horse crumbles, symbolizing a slow descent into darkness, emptiness, and the end of existence.

The Turin Horse

2011

Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen poster
7.5

A film where anything can happen - the hero and the heroine changes their faces, age, look, names, and so on. The only same thing: The love between man and woman... in an archetypical love story cut from 500 classics from all around the world.

Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen

2012

Hungary 2011 poster
NR

Anthology film made as an act of protest against Hungarian government of Viktor Orban.

Hungary 2011

2012

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Tuga

2014

Damnation poster
7.6

Karrer plods his way through life in quiet desperation. His environment is drab and rainy and muddy. Eaten up with solitude, his hopelessness would be incurable but for the existence of the Titanik Bar and its beautiful, haunting singer. But the lady is married and Karrer is determined to keep her husband away...

Damnation

1988

Damnation poster
7.6

Karrer plods his way through life in quiet desperation. His environment is drab and rainy and muddy. Eaten up with solitude, his hopelessness would be incurable but for the existence of the Titanik Bar and its beautiful, haunting singer. But the lady is married and Karrer is determined to keep her husband away...

Damnation

1988

Family Nest poster
6.6

A family slowly disintegrates under various pressures in late 1970s communist Hungary.

Family Nest

1979

Family Nest poster
6.6

A family slowly disintegrates under various pressures in late 1970s communist Hungary.

Family Nest

1979

The Man from London poster
7.0

A switchman at a seaside railway witnesses a murder but does not report it after he finds a suitcase full of money at the scene of the crime.

The Man from London

2008

The Man from London poster
7.0

A switchman at a seaside railway witnesses a murder but does not report it after he finds a suitcase full of money at the scene of the crime.

The Man from London

2008

Macbeth poster
6.5

Consistent of only two long shots, three witches predict that Macbeth will ascend to the throne of Scotland. To fulfill this prophecy, Lady Macbeth convinces her husband to murder King Duncan, who has come to spend the night at their home. This crime plunges the new ruler into a macabre spiral that will lead him to sink into guilt and madness.

Macbeth

1982

Macbeth poster
6.5

Consistent of only two long shots, three witches predict that Macbeth will ascend to the throne of Scotland. To fulfill this prophecy, Lady Macbeth convinces her husband to murder King Duncan, who has come to spend the night at their home. This crime plunges the new ruler into a macabre spiral that will lead him to sink into guilt and madness.

Macbeth

1982

No artwork available
NR

The story of a mother who now needs the full-time care of her son who struggles to keep giving it.

Coda

2023

Visions of Europe poster
5.3

Twenty-five films from twenty-five European countries by twenty-five European directors.

Visions of Europe

2004

Coda poster
NR

The story of a mother who now needs the full-time care of her son who struggles to keep giving it.

Coda

The Prefab People poster
6.5

Using verite conventions, a young couple with a baby and a child are worn away by the monotony of their lives.

The Prefab People

1982

The Prefab People poster
6.5

Using verite conventions, a young couple with a baby and a child are worn away by the monotony of their lives.

The Prefab People

1982

Letters from the Ends of the World poster
4.0

A world in lock-down. As a global pandemic unfolds, 13 international filmmakers pen cinematic letters from their places of isolation, whether home or far from home. A work of accidental science-fiction from the Bistrik7 collective, graduates of Béla Tarr's Sarajevo film.factory.

Letters from the Ends of the World

2021

Autumn Almanac poster
7.0

In this dense setting, the inhabitants of a large, claustrophobic apartment reveal their darkest secrets, fears, obsessions and hostilities.

Autumn Almanac

1984

Autumn Almanac poster
7.0

In this dense setting, the inhabitants of a large, claustrophobic apartment reveal their darkest secrets, fears, obsessions and hostilities.

Autumn Almanac

1984