Legendary Hungarian filmmaker Bela Tarr, whose masterpiece "Satantango" has etched his name in cinematic history, has passed away at the age of 70. According to the AFP, Hungary's national news agency reported Tarr's death, citing a statement made by director Bence Fliegauf on behalf of the family. "It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of film director Bela Tarr, who breathed his last early this morning after a long and serious illness," the local news site quoted the statement as saying.
Tarr is best known for his 1994 masterpiece "Satantango," a seven-hour epic that chronicled the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and its material and spiritual decline. The film was adapted from one of Nobel laureate writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai's most acclaimed novels, with whom he frequently collaborated. In a speech last year after receiving his Nobel prize, Krasznahorkai praised Tarr for "creating colors by making them disappear," stating that in his great films, he tried to speak as the sinner who, despite all his sins, must still be loved.
Bela was born in the southern Hungarian university town of Pecs in 1955. His journey into filmmaking began as an amateur at the age of 16 with a camera gifted to him by his father. Tarr then joined Hungary's leading experimental film studio, Bela Balazs Studio, which enabled him to make his first feature film, "Family Nest," in 1977. He went on to make the first Hungarian independent feature film, "Damnation," which was screened at the prestigious Berlin International Film Festival in 1988.
With each passing moment, we remember the extraordinary contributions of this visionary filmmaker who left an indelible mark on the world of cinema.
