The early work of visionary Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr is distinguished by its commitment to process: of filming, of acting out realistic situations, and of discovering the layers of a uniquely personal filmic language that would grace the director’s later, more celebrated works. After screening Tarr’s entire oeuvre in the fall of 2000, the Department of Film and Media acquired the filmmaker’s early works in stunning new prints with new, uncensored English subtitling (the lab work was supervised by Tarr himself). The Department proudly presents these four early films, which exhibit a barely veiled critique of socialist life and art, and which are the seeds for Tarr’s later, internationally influential masterworks.
Organized by Jytte Jensen, Associate Curator, Department of Film and Media.