02:27Béla Tarr’s beginnings: rejected by university after failing political screening.

05:14Family Nest wins an award in Germany.

07:28Damnation, Hungary’s first independent film, enters the Berlin Film Festival.

12:31The director who filmed only in winter.

16:47Europe’s cross-border production network in his later career.

19:17Why did Béla Tarr retire so early?

20:42Béla Tarr’s intense dislike of Viktor Orbán’s Hungarian government.

 

Lao Ma: Béla Tarr had an unusual habit: he filmed only in winter.

Ah Wu: An art-film director must balance personal expression, ambition, public image, commercial returns, and an entire crew. It all rests on one person—that is its own world of power and relationships.

 

Béla Tarr (July 21, 1955–January 6, 2026), born in Pécs, was a Hungarian film director, screenwriter, and producer.

His feature debut Family Nest launched his directing career. In 1988 he directed the crime drama Damnation, nominated for Best Young Film at the inaugural European Film Awards.

In 2000 he directed the mystery drama Werckmeister Harmonies, winner of the Berliner Zeitung Readers’ Jury Award at the 51st Berlin International Film Festival. In 2011, The Turin Horse won the Jury Grand Prix at the 61st Berlinale. Tarr died on January 6, 2026, aged seventy.