Béla Tarr born July 21 1955 is an acclaimed Hungarian film director Much of his work is marked by philosophical elements and a pessimistic view of humanity His films utilize unconventional storytelling methods such as long takes andor nonprofessional actors to achieve realism Debuting with his film Family Nest in 1979 Tarr underwent a period of what he refers to as social cinema aimed at telling mundane stories about ordinary people often in the style of cinema vérité Over the next decade the cinematography of Tarrs films gradually changed Damnation 1988 was shot with languid camera movement aimed at establishing ambience It marked Tarrs earliest experimentation with philosophical themes focused mostly on bleak and desolate representations of reality Sátántangó 1994 and Werckmeister Harmonies 2000 continued this approach both are considered by some critics to be among the greatest films ever made Tarr would later compete in the 2007 Cannes Film Festival with his film The Man From London Frequent collaborators of Tarr include his wife Ágnes Hranitzky novelist László Krasznahorkai film composer Mihály Víg cinematographer Fred Kelemen and actress Erika Bók After the release of his film The Turin Horse 2011 Tarr announced his definitive retirement from film direction He has been teaching at the Sarajevo Film School since Description above from the Wikipedia article Béla Tarr licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia