Hungarian director Bela Tarr, known for his bleak and beautiful films, dies at 70

"Tarr frequently collaborated with Hungarian author Laszlo Krasznahorkai, who last year won the Nobel Prize in literature. Tarr's films, some of which were adaptations of Krasznahorkai's novels (Satantango and Werckmeister Harmonies), have been awarded prizes at festivals around Europe and Asia, and he received honorary professorships at universities in China. In a statement on Tuesday, the Hungarian Filmmakers' Association confirmed Tarr's death, writing that with deep sorrow we announce that, after a long and serious illness, film director Bela Tarr passed away early this morning."

"His films, the longest of which, Satantango, clocks in at 439 minutes or more than seven hours long, were widely praised as being beautifully shot while often using slow pacing and stark imagery to depict despair and social decay. Often shot in black and white and defined by long, hypnotic single takes that could last upward of ten minutes, Tarr's films depict bleak, hopeless, even dystopian landscapes set during Hungary's socialist era or in the years following the end of Soviet-dominated communism in Eastern Europe."

Béla Tarr was a Hungarian filmmaker whose career spanned decades and nine feature films from 1979 to 2011. He completed his first feature, Family Nest, at age 23 and won the Grand Prize at Mannheim-Heidelberg. Tarr gained renown for long, often black-and-white films employing slow pacing, stark imagery, and lengthy single takes to portray despair, social decay, and post-socialist landscapes. His longest film, Satantango, runs about 439 minutes. He frequently collaborated with novelist László Krasznahorkai, adapted several of his works, and received festival awards and honorary professorships. He died at 70 after a long, serious illness.

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