--- name: "Béla Tarr" canonical: "https://film.one/person/bela-tarr" fi1m_id: "bela-tarr" imdb_id: "nm0850601" tmdb_id: 85637 wikidata_id: "Q312944" roles: ["Director"] born: "21 July 1955" died: "6 January 2026" reviewed_on_fi1m: 1 average_as: "director" average_over: 1 updated: "2026-09-26T02:24:47.491598+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Béla Tarr ## Identity Béla Tarr - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/bela-tarr - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** bela-tarr - **IMDb ID:** nm0850601 - **TMDB ID:** 85637 - **Wikidata ID:** Q312944 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9la_Tarr, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q312944, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0850601/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/85637 Director. Born 21 July 1955 in Pécs, Hungary. Died 6 January 2026. ## Details - **Work:** Director - **Born:** 21 July 1955, Pécs, Hungary - **Died:** 6 January 2026 - **Also known as:** Bela Tarr, Tarr Béla, 벨라 타르, 터르 벨러, 타르 벨러, 타르 벨라, 贝拉·塔尔, Μπέλα Ταρ, Μπελα Ταρ, Л. Тарр, L. Tarr, Бела Тарр - **Berlin International Film Festival:** 1 Berlin prize (1 won) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9la_Tarr, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q312944, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0850601/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/85637 ## Fi1m on Béla Tarr > Béla Tarr’s long takes and stark landscapes reward sustained attention, though not every extra minute earns its place. We recommend his cinema for its absorbing images and concentration on people, without treating patience as a qualification for enjoying it. Tarr’s camera moves slowly across rain-soaked, muddy landscapes, and a shot can last several minutes. He gives us time to look, then keeps us there after we think we have seen enough. That can be absorbing or simply tiring, sometimes within the same passage. We rate *Satantango* (1994) highly because its images and performances sustain so much of that attention, though we would not defend every minute. His early social realism used non-professional actors, beginning with *Family Nest* (1979). *Almanac of Fall* (1984) marked a move towards longer takes and a more atmospheric style. With *Damnation* (1988), his first collaboration with novelist László Krasznahorkai, the familiar black-and-white approach took hold. It continued through *Werckmeister Harmonies* (2000) to *The Turin Horse* (2011), his final feature. In the 432-minute *Satantango*, Tarr and Krasznahorkai adapt the latter’s novel with considerable confidence in our willingness to stay. The writing gradually gives us enough interest in the people to make the undertaking worthwhile, rather than relying on the weather alone. We were absorbed by its concentrated performances and monochrome images, once we had adjusted to its pace. There are stretches, though, where we understand what a passage is doing well before the film is ready to leave it. Gábor Medvigy was a core cinematographer from *Damnation* onwards, and the stark black-and-white landscapes are central to the films’ oppressive atmosphere. Ágnes Hranitzky worked as editor and later co-director, a useful reminder that these carefully timed films were made in collaboration. Composer Mihály Víg’s repetitive scores make it harder to shake off that atmosphere. The music keeps returning, just as the films return to actions that a brisker storyteller would show us once. We recommend setting aside a substantial part of a day for *Satantango*, rather than approaching it as a test of endurance. After the adjustment, it is possible to stop measuring the length and take pleasure in looking. There is no need to pretend that every passage holds us equally, or to mistake an occasional lapse of concentration for defeat. Choose a day when nobody needs to be anywhere else. ## Biography Béla Tarr is a Hungarian film director and screenwriter. He was born on 21 July 1955 in Pécs and grew up in Budapest. His debut feature, *Family Nest* (1979), was followed by several early works in a realist style. From *Damnation* (1988) onwards, Tarr collaborated frequently with editor Ágnes Hranitzky, novelist László Krasznahorkai, composer Mihály Víg and others. His later films are distinguished by extended long takes in black and white. Key works include *Sátántangó* (1994), *Werckmeister Harmonies* (2000), *The Man from London* (2007) and *The Turin Horse* (2011). He announced his retirement from directing after the latter film and later taught at the film.factory school in Sarajevo. Tarr died on 6 January 2026 in Budapest after a long illness, aged 70. *Sources: bfi.org.uk, hollywoodreporter.com, en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (1) - *Satantango* (1994), Fi1m 84, Screenplay, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/satantango.md) ## Complete filmography (57) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *First Lesson* (2026), Actor - *Stars of Little Importance* (2025), Executive Producer - *Lullaby for the Mountains* (2025), Executive Producer - *Living Stones* (2025), Executive Producer - *Rumours* (2024), Thanks - *The Cowboy* (2024), Thanks - *Árni* (2024), Creative Producer - *Coda* (2023), Producer - *Deer Bell* (2023), Producer - *Isten hozott* (2022), Thanks - *Letters from the Ends of the World* (2021), Producer - *Lamb* (2021), Executive Producer - *Paola Makes a Wish* (2019), Producer - *Missing People* (2019), Director - *A Country Divided* (2018), Actor - *The Tree* (2018), Thanks - *The Confidence-Man* (2018), Executive Producer - *Aragane* (2017), Consulting Producer - *Muhamed* (2017), Director, Writer - *Man in the Well* (2016), Producer - *The Parrot* (2016), Thanks - *Lost in Bosnia* (2014), Executive Producer - *Tuga* (2014), Producer - *Conniving* (2014), Producer - *Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen* (2012), Producer - *Hungary 2011* (2012), Producer - *The State That I Am Fish* (2011), as Béla Tarr - *The Turin Horse* (2011), Director, Screenplay - *The Man from London* (2008), Screenplay, Director, Associate Producer - *Fragment* (2007), Producer - *Johanna* (2005), Producer - *Visions of Europe* (2004), Director - *Prologue* (2004), Director - *Werckmeister Harmonies* (2001), Director, Co-Writer, Associate Producer - *György Fehér's Films According to Béla Tarr* (2001), Director - *Passion* (1998), Writer - *Journey on the Plain* (1995), Director - *Satantango* (1994), Screenplay, Director — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/satantango.md) - *Twilight* (1990), Consulting Producer - *City Life* (1990), Director - *The Last Boat* (1990), Writer, Director - *Damnation* (1988), Writer, Director - *Season of Monsters* (1987), as Jesus as Mental Patient - *Autumn Almanac* (1984), Director, Writer - *The Doctor's Pupil* (1984), Actor - *The Prefab People* (1982), Director, Writer - *Macbeth* (1982), Director, Screenplay - *The Outsider* (1981), Writer, Director - *Diplomafilm* (1981), Director, Script - *Family Nest* (1979), Writer, Director - *Cinemarxism* (1979), Director - *Hotel Magnezit* (1978), Writer, Director - *Iván Iljics halála* (1965), as Vászja (as Tar Béla) - *Places Half Empty*, Executive Producer - *Il vento del cinema*, Actor - *Be Water My Friend*, Consulting Accountant - *Coda*, Producer ## Gallery - ![Béla Tarr](https://film.one/media/person/3929489/gallery-74eac6e751ff.jpg) Béla Tarr — Soppakanuuna, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a1/B%C3%A9la_Tarr.jpg/1280px-B%C3%A9la_Tarr.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Béla Tarr presenting Man in the Well at TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (2018)](https://film.one/media/person/3929489/gallery-0e54c03b4d16.jpg) Béla Tarr presenting Man in the Well at TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (2018) — hinnk, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Bela_Tarr_TIFF_2018.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Bela Tarr stellt auf dem Sarajevo Film Festival seinen Film "The Man from London" vor.](https://film.one/media/person/3929489/gallery-98873c210a13.jpg) Bela Tarr stellt auf dem Sarajevo Film Festival seinen Film "The Man from London" vor. — The original uploader was KoljaHub at German Wikipedia. (Original text: Kolja Hub), CC BY-SA 2.0 de, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f0/Belatarr.jpg/1280px-Belatarr.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Béla Tarr](https://film.one/media/person/3929489/gallery-50af9ca64090.jpg) Béla Tarr — Image via TMDB - ![Béla Tarr](https://film.one/media/person/3929489/gallery-e2627c40020c.jpg) Béla Tarr — Image via TMDB - ![Béla Tarr](https://film.one/media/person/3929489/gallery-e2cfe58679f4.jpg) Béla Tarr — Image via TMDB - ![Béla Tarr](https://film.one/media/person/3929489/gallery-ab55450fb27a.jpg) Béla Tarr — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Berlin International Film Festival — 1 won - 2011: Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize (won), for *The Turin Horse* ### Other awards — 13 won, 2 nominated - honorary citizen of Budapest 2025: honorary citizen of Budapest (won) - European Film Academy Honorary Award 2023: European Film Academy Honorary Award (won) - lifetime achievement award 2017: lifetime achievement award (won) - lifetime achievement award 2016: lifetime achievement award (won) - Hungarian Film Critics Awards 2014: Hungarian Film Critics Awards (won) - European Film Award for Best Director 2011: European Film Award for Best Director (nominated), for *The Turin Horse* - FIPRESCI Prize of the Festival de Cannes 2011: FIPRESCI Prize of the Festival de Cannes (won), for *The Turin Horse* - Konrad Wolf Prize 2011: Konrad Wolf Prize (won) - lifetime achievement award 2011: lifetime achievement award (won) - Annual award ACFK 2010: Annual award ACFK (won) - Commander Cross of the Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic 2005: Commander Cross of the Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic (won) - Kossuth Prize 2003: Kossuth Prize (won) - Gundel Art Award 2001: Gundel Art Award (won) - Young European Film of the Year 1988: Young European Film of the Year (nominated), for *Damnation* - Béla Balázs Award 1983: Béla Balázs Award (won) *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/bela-tarr