Hungarian filmmaker Bela Tarr, known for his distinctive black-and-white films and for pioneering the “slow cinema” movement, has died at the age of 70. Tarr, whose notable works include 1994’s seven and a half hour epic Sátántangó and 1987’s Damnation, died after a “long and serious illness,” the European Film Academy announced on Tuesday, via Variety. The academy added that it now mourns the loss of 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 worldwide.” Tarr’s style of filmmaking is best known for its long, uninterrupted takes with minimal dialogue, bleak themes, and a moody black-and-white aesthetic. He won the Best Young Film Award at the European Film Awards in 1998 for Damnation, with his biggest acclaim generally regarded for Sátántangó, a 439-minute adaptation of the novel by László Krasznahorkai about the struggles of a Hungarian village in the wake of the fall of communism. His last film was 2011’s Turin Horse, which was also critically acclaimed, ranking 63rd on the BBC’s list of the century’s best films in 2016.
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