'Satantango' director Bela Tarr, pioneer of 'slow cinema,' dies at 70
Hungarian filmmaker Bela Tarr, who changed the game for art-house cinema with his signature long takes and black-and-white style, has passed away at 70.
Best known for the epic seven-hour Satantango (1994), Tarr's films like Werckmeister Harmonies and The Turin Horse redefined "slow cinema" by focusing on mood, atmosphere, and deep existential themes.
Who was Bela Tarr?
Born in Pecs, Hungary in 1955 to theater-worker parents, Tarr started making documentaries as a teen and directed his first feature at just 22.
While his early movies explored social realism, he soon shifted to bold visual storytelling—think minimal dialogue and hypnotic tracking shots.
After retiring from filmmaking with The Turin Horse, he founded an international film school in Sarajevo and continued supporting new talent.
His close collaborators included editor Agnes Hranitzky, writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai (who later won the Nobel Prize), and composer Mihaly Vig.