The 9th Jeonju International Film Festival (Festival Director, Min Byung-Lock) Organizing Committee announced that it is preparing for the retrospective exhibition of Hungarian director, Béla Tarr.
Until now, the Jeonju Intenational Film Festival has organized special session of directors who achieved big accomplishments, but most were hard to meet in Korea. Through this session, films of master directors such as Hsiao-hsien Hou, Chantal Anne Akerman, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Glauber Rocha, Shinji Soomai, Ritwik Ghatak, Peter Watkins and so on, were introduced.
The 9th Jeonju International Film Festival spans from May 1 to 9 and plans to show feature and short films by Béla Tarr who is regarded as one of the greatest contemporary directors.
The domestic audience is not familiar with the Hungarian director, but he has received a big applaud from world famous directors such as Gus Van Sant, Jim Jarmusch, and film critics. Also, Béla Tarr has been appointed as the successor of the Hungarian master, Miklos Jancso who directed The Red and the White and Red psalm.
There is a very famous anecdote that, after watching Damnation, Satantango, and Werchmeister Harmonies, Gus Van Sant converted his film-making style and made Jerry, Elephant, and Last days.
There are 12 films waiting to be shown including Satantango and The Man From London. Satantango has more than 7 hours of running time and an unprecedented unique visual style, evoking tremendous attention. His latest movie, The Man From London was entered in a 'Competition' at the Festival de Cannes. (Please refer to the Annex regarding the introduction of showings.)
The works of Béla Tarr, show a high level of contemporary aesthetics and give hope that those films will match with the city of creative culture. The programmer, Yoo Un-seong says, "I'm so pleased to show movies by Béla Tarr, one of the most creative directors and an uncompromising artist". Along with 'Focus on Alexander Kluge', this session will bring fresh excitement and shock for domestic directors and students of film who are working for a new aesthetic".
Also, Béla Tarr will have in-depth communication with the audience and will provide special lectures.
Introducing Béla Tarr
Great Hungarian Film Director Béla Tarr
Béla Tarr was born in Pécs, Hungary in 1955. He began to realize his interests with film-making at the age of 16 by making amateur films with a 8mm camera. His amateur work brought him to the attention of the Béla Balázs Studios, which helped fund of Béla Tarr's feature debut, Family Nest (1977) at the age of 22. The film was faithful to the "Budapest School" or "documentary" style popular at the time within Béla Balázs Studios, maintaining absolute social-realism on screen. With a 1982 television adaptation of Macbeth (1982) and a claustrophobic chamber drama Almanac of Fall (1984), his work began to change dramatically. The movie Damnation (1987) showed his trade-mark of shooting in black and long-take. A planned adaptation of Laszlo Krasznahorkai's epic novel, Satantango (1994) took over seven years to realize. The film, an over 7 hour masterpiece with unprecedented aesthetic, finally appeared to international acclaim in 1994. It received accomplishment as one of the masterpiece in movie industry that could compete with William Faulkner's novel, representing 1990s. Werchmeister Harmonies (2000) was welcomed by critics and the Festival circuit in general and influenced on contemporary directors such as Gus Van Sant and Jim Jarmusch. His latest movie, The Man From London which is based on the novel by Georges Simenon was on 'Competition' in Festival de Cannes, 2007. He is now shooting the 10th feature film which he says "it would be the last one".
Laci tries to find a house for his wife and children, but his family is forced to live in his parent's tiny studio apartment because of the country's extreme housing shortage. Shot in a cinema verite documentary style and featuring non-professional actors, this fiction portrays the hungarian society in the 1970s. This first feature film, directed and written by Béla Tarr, was influenced by the U.S. independent film director, John Cassavetes' social realism, and is noted for its carefully calculated shots and elaborative structure.
*1979 Hungary Film Festival, Film Critics' Prize
The Outsider
Hungary | 1980 | 122min | 35mm | Color | Feature
Andras is a gifted violinist, but he lacks direction and purpose in his life and drifts from one job to another. He is branded a social outsider because he indulges in the enjoyment of music, dance, and drinking. In this first color film and second feature film by Béla Tarr, a non-professional actor plays the role of Andras (which is also the actor's name in real life), which reflects the director's intentions to present natural and realistic acting and lines. In this film, the sequences cross dialogue and music adds rhythm to the film.
The Prefab People
Hungary | 1982 | 82min | 35mm | B&W | Feature
The Prefab People portrays a young married couple struggling with economic hardship and childcare problems. The couple represents the Hungarian middle class under social pressure and stress. The film is almost unedited documentary style scenes of this film, which is Béla Tarr's first film featuring with professional actors, realistically depicts the everyday drone of life.
A Hungarian version of Macbeth produced for a television series, this film consists of a 57 minute dueling scene between Macbeth and Macduff, and a five minute prologue. The rough hand-held camera scenes and frequent close-ups reflect the characters' complex emotions as they experience betrayal and conspiracy. This film became a turning point to Béla Tarr, as it signals a shift from documentary-style realism to theatrical cinematography.
Almanac of Fall
Hungary | 1984 | 120min | 35mm | Color | Feature
In this second color film by Béla Tarr, scenes are shot in one place, but each scene feels new due to the unique angles and camerawork. The characters are depicted as if they are trapped in a picture frame, and extreme close-ups are used. Such camerawork reflects the relationship of the five characters living in the same apartment, and their inner hatred and selfishness. The high angle and low angle shots, the contrast between green and red, effective placement of light and props, and the theatrical dialogue between the characters add to the charm of this film.
Damnation is Béla Tarr's first collaborative project with Laszlo Krasznahorkai, the author of 『Satantango』. This black and white film features bleak landscapes that act as a metaphor for the ennui, loneliness, and frustration of a desperate man who experienced betrayal. Karel falls in love with an attractive but dangerous cabaret singer, but she only uses him. The bleak weather, dark bars, and wandering stray dogs are metaphors for Karel's desperation. The tracking shots taken from multiple angles are in contrast with still shots that portray the distant view.
The director came out of a 7-year break to produce this work of art with its seductive images and narrative style, making it one of the greatest masterpieces of the nineties. The residents of a small village stuck back in time on a great plain try to get out to the city through thievery and trickery, but the return of a man that they had thought was dead stirs up confusion. The sound of falling autumn rain and the rhythm created by the repetition of noise, the ambience created by such noise, and the long tango scene that follows the sorrowful music of an accordion is the extreme version of the signature darkness that the director is well known for. This film was screened at the 1st Jeonju International Film Festival.
In the middle of a harsh, biting winter, hundreds of outsiders flock to a quiet village on the Hungarian plain to see a stuffed whale being carted around by a circus, which disturbs the peace of the provincial village. Even with its running time of 145 minutes, the film consists of only 39 shorts that maintain a unique tension within its long stretch. The opening of 10 minutes and 20 seconds, the camera moves from side to side like it is dancing with tight close-ups, long takes with a steadycam, camerawork that flows freely through doors stand out. The screenplay is by László Krasznahorkai, the writer of 『Satantango』, and was edited by his wife Ágnes Hranitzky. This film was screened at the 2nd Jeonju International Film Festival.
The Man From London
France, Germany, Hungary | 2007 | 132min | 35mm | B&W | Feature
Based on a novel by Georges Simenon, this is the latest work of Béla Tarr and deals with the story of how a man's life changed after witnessing a murder scene. Not only is it noire in genre but saw the producer commit suicide during its making. The background is marked with more darkness than light, as escalating arguments lead straight into an uncomfortable silence, all combined in uninterrupted long takes, which add to the tension associated with the genre.
* 2007 Festival de Cannes, 'Competition'
Short Films
Hotel Magnezit
Hungary | 1978 | 13min | Beta SP | B&W | Short
This film is a fake documentary, deals with the story of a laborer in a boarding house. Timor, who works in the Air Force office, is caught red-handed stealing and is about to be kicked out of the boarding house. The coworkers, who had been his accomplices, turn a cold shoulder and his is thrown out alone on the streets. The film portrays emotions that come with daily interactions, such as contempt, antagonism, and despair.
Journey On the Plain
Hungary | 1995 | 35min | Beta SP | Color | Short
The film expresses through monologue combined with beautiful scenes the aspects of human emotion that the director experienced while traveling the plains. It raises fundamental questions about the human existence, such as human emotions that fluctuate between the repetition of life and death, and sadness and joy. The scene where a piano is played atop a speeding truck leaves a subtle impression, while bright light and controlled sound breathes sensitivity into the film.
This short was a part of Visions of Europe, an omnibus film screened at Jeonju International Film Festival in 2005, and shows how a Hungarian director about the European Union. More advanced versions of tracking shorts that the director tried out in his previous film, Damnation, are used here, with one single short that captures the expressions of people saying more than several lines of speech.
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