Pioneering director Béla Tarr dies at 70

The Turin Horse

Hungarian director Béla Tarr has died at the age of 70. The death of The Turin Horse and Satantango was announced this morning by Hungary’s national news agency MTI on behalf of Tarr’s family.

The European Film Academy also paid tribute to the director, saying: "It is with deep sorrow that the European Film Academy announces that the iconic Hungarian film director Béla Tarr passed away this morning after a long and serious illness.

Béla Tarr Photo: UniFrance

"The European Film Academy mourns an outstanding director and a personality with a strong political voice, who is not only deeply respected by his colleagues but also celebrated by audiences world-wide.

"The grieving family asks for the understanding of the press and the public and that they not be sought for a statement during these difficult days."

Tarr, who started out as an amateur filmmaker at the age of just 16, leaves a legacy of arthouse work, often dealing with melancholic and existentialist themes. He made his directorial debut, Family Nest i in 1977, which won the Grand Prix at the Mannheim Film Festival.

The director, who had been working on a shipyard, then enrolled atthe Academy of Theatre and Film in Budapest. After his graduation, he became one of the founders of Társulás Filmstúdió.

Tarr rose to international recognition with Damnation in 1987, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival. He went on to direct features including Werckmeister Harmonies, the 450-minute Satantango, The Man From London and The Turin Horse.

Since making The Turin Horse, which he declared would be his last film, he has been working as a visiting professor, teaching at several film academies.

When he attended Edinburgh International Film Festival with The Turin Horse in 2011, he said of the film: “It is not apocalyptic, it is more basic than that. We each live, and we each die.” He added: “I have the whole thing in my head before we start – everything.”