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The Hungarian Filmmakers’ Association confirmed in a statement that Tarr passed away in the early hours of Tuesday after a long and serious illness.
Born in Pécs in 1955, Tarr began his career as an amateur filmmaker at the age of 16. He later worked at the Béla Balázs Studio, the hub of Hungarian experimental cinema, where he directed his first feature film, Family Nest (Csaladi tűzfészek), in 1977. His 1988 film Damnation (Kárhozat), the first independent Hungarian feature, premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and achieved significant international acclaim.
Tarr lived in Berlin from 1989 to 1990 as a guest of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Programme and later taught as a visiting professor at the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin (DFFB), continuing his academic work until 2011.
In 1997, he was elected a member of the European Film Academy. In 2003, he founded the TT Filmmuhely, which he led until 2011 and through which he produced his final films, including The Turin Horse (A torinói ló), which he declared his last work as a director.
After 2011, Tarr dedicated himself to teaching and exploring new forms of filmmaking, while also serving as a producer for films by other notable directors.
In a Facebook post, Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony praised Tarr as “the freest man I have ever known”.
“One couldn’t but love him. Because he had endless love for the essence of man, human dignity,” he said.
Tarr’s reading of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at last year’s Budapest Pride festival was “unforgettable”, Karácsony said.
Even as “one of the most famous Hungarians and Budapest citizens”, Tarr had been very proud to become honorary citizen, he said, adding: “It breaks my heart that I couldn’t hand [the honorary citizenship] over to him.”
“Dear Béla, we will try to continue to live life. Thanks for everything, and all the best on the other side,” Karácsony said.
The Hungarian Academy of Sciences said on its Facebook page that Tarr “determined as a priority of the education of filmmakers that filmmaking cannot be indifferent to human suffering, and that one of the most current tasks in the training of filmmakers is to highlight social sensitivity.”
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