Béla Tarr was born in 1955, one year before the Hungarian Revolution and the deposition of the communist government. According to film historians and academics, he is regarded one of the greatest filmmakers in post-communist Europe, especially in East and Central Europe.

His best known works include Family Nest (1979), followed by a televised interpretation of Shakespeare’s classic Macbeth (1982), then films Satan's Tango (1994), The Man from London (2007) and The Turin Horse (2011), his most acclaimed work after which he quit filmmaking.

In it's 44th edition, the Cairo International Film Festival honors the filmmaker with the the festival's prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award. Tarr will also hold a nine-day long workshop in Cairo, with a small group of participants.

Also, on 15 November, Tarr held a panel discussion at the Fountain Theatre of the Cairo Opera House. The discussion was moderated by an Egyptian filmmaker Ahmad Abdalla.

Q: Are you familiar with the Arab world?

Béla Tarr (BT): I have a lot of Arab friends actually. I went to Iraqi Kurdistan as jury president in a festival there. Also, I have been to Morocco’s Marrakech Film Festival. Still, I don’t know much about the Arab world and its people; I only know a few little things, and I have some imagination about the food and the culture of the region based on my visits to Spain.

And now, I'm in Cairo. It’s a magic town, the Nile has a magnetic power, and the sun is great.

Q: Your workshop will last for nine days. This is the whole period of the festival and definitely a big task. 

BT: When the Cairo International Film Festival asked me to hold a workshop during this edition, I really liked the idea. I am very interested in getting to know Egyptian people. As I mentioned, my knowledge of the country is based mostly on things I imagine; I have never been to Egypt.

Q: Can you tell us more about its participants, content, etc. 

BT: The festival took care of the pre-selection of the participants. There were more than 200 applicants, and the festival chose 21. I then narrowed the number to 11 participants. The nine-day workshop includes shooting an entire scene, as otherwise there would be no reason to have a workshop.

Q: Are the participants free to choose an idea or a topic for these scenes?

BT: There is a theme for the scenes: Lunch at the Market. This will allow the participants to be in real locations. I believe that a filmmaker should see life first before thinking about the movies.

Q: Does the content of your workshops differ depending on the country where it is held?

BT: Yes, of course because each country is different, the people are different. When you see a place you feel something. Of course I have made mistakes or I misunderstood something but mostly I try to find a very simple topic so everybody can join in.

Also, we are a product of society, and society is produced by us. If there is a problem we can’t say it’s other people's responsibility; we made that society so if it’s [messed up], it’s our fault.

Q: The Turin Horse (2011) was your last film. Why did you decide to quit filmmaking? 

BT: The reason is very simple. When you see my life and my movies, you will realize that each movie is based on the experience of the previous one. Each film also generates new questions, and these new questions can’t be answered if I don’t move ahead and take a step forward. Once you have a new answer you can make a new movie… The sequence builds itself up, step by step, from one film to the next. This is when you start having your own language. At some point you feel you cannot say anything new. I said everything I wanted; it’s all done.

Q: As a film mentor, what is the most important advice you would give to young filmmakers who hope to have their own cinematic language?

BT: I don’t have any advice except this: be yourself, don’t listen to anyone but yourself, you have to be strong enough, brave enough; follow your feelings, do what you really want, and just be yourself. If you are learning about life, the style will find you.

Q: Today, many filmmakers are trying to learn cinema on their own. Do you think academic studies are important or are talent and passion enough? 

BT: I always had these kinds of problems with education, because in academia, the teacher is teaching his students one way as the only way they can use. But if you are different you have to find your own way. This is why I am not teaching, I am developing people and giving them the courage to be themselves.

What will follow will be very simple, because we are in the 21st century, we have new technologies and a lot of equipment. Today, anyone can make a movie with a mobile phone; there are no roles anymore, you just follow your feelings. That's why I don't like to teach, I want young people to explore life and cinema by themselves; I can only tell them which corner is more interesting than the other.

Q: That leads us to talk about your school of cinema, The Film Factory. You established this film academy in Sarajevo Film and then you left it. Why is that?

BT: Because this was a faculty in a private university. All these kinds of universities set making profit as their main goal. We couldn’t make a profit. I was always questioned by the school owners about their financial gains. I could not meet their expectations or give them promises since I was working with young people from all over the world. Those young people differed in their visions and cultures… There was a young Japanese girl and a man from Iceland. They were all different, our power was in accepting and understanding these differences.

Q: In 2012, after nine years of activities, you also shut down your Budapest-based production house, TT Filmmuhely. What were the reasons behind this decision?

BT: I had to shut down my production company because I didn't agree with how the politicians were changing the life of culture. They were forcing something which was unacceptable, I was born as a democrat and I do not accept this [political situation].

Q: Were you forced to do anything you didn’t like? 

BT: No, but they didn't allow us to do what we wanted, and after a while I decided to stop. I would not collaborate with this mentality.

Q: Did your political opinions affect your career?  

BT: I don’t think I was political. I rather had a social sensibility. When you see people's lives you become political. I don’t want to, but that's what happens when I encounter people.

Q: In one of your interviews you said that in your younger years you wanted to change the world while filmmaking wasn’t your dream. Today, do you think cinema can really make a change?

BT: No, surely not, that's what I have learned in more than 40 years; we can't make change. People can change the world; a film is a part of that world. If I have changed the film language and the point of view, we can assume that I have influenced the world.

Q: Which of your films is particularly close to your heart? 

BT: My style developed bit by bit, with each film. A filmmaker is like a father, so I have nine kids. I can't say that I have a favorite one because all of them are mine.

Q: How would you describe each phase in your career? 

BT: I made my first feature film Family Nest at the age of 22. At that time I thought that all our problems were social problems. Then I started thinking that they were ontological, then cosmical, and that we made them all and that the problems were our responsibility. I was thinking that we are the creators and the victims.

Q: You said once that writing is your least favorite of the cinematic activities, why is that?

BT: Because it's not real, people are sitting at the desk in front of their computers, they imagine something, and by the end you find actors in locations. 

Life is in front of you, and you see immediately that everything is different. When you are writing down something about a character, in front of the camera he becomes a different person.  I prefer to see a situation, the real person involved in it, and listen to his personal details. I like to include ordinary people.

** This article was originally published in the CIFF's daily Bulletin. Special Issue, 15 November 2022.