CIFF will grant the award to celebrate Tarr's iconic contributions to world cinema.
Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) will honour Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr with its Lifetime Achievement Award.
The 44th edition of CIFF is scheduled to take place from November 13 to 22, 2022.
Speaking about the filmmaker and his achievements, Hussein Fahmy, President of Cairo International Film Festival, said: “Béla Tarr is heralded as one of the cinematic world’s greatest innovators whose extensive repertoire includes several masterpiece films that largely contributed to the filmmaking world. A legendary film pioneer, Tarr often highlighted humanitarian issues in his films using a unique cinematic philosophy, which soon grew as a cinematic concept that is followed by other filmmakers worldwide. We are truly honoured at CIFF to grant him the Lifetime Achievement Award to celebrate his iconic contributions to world cinema.”
Amir Ramses, Festival Director of CIFF, added: “We are honoured to receive the legendary Béla Tarr during the upcoming edition of Cairo International Film Festival, where he will be mentoring a workshop with a number of young Egyptian filmmakers, as well as an open masterclass, making it a great opportunity for the up-and-coming filmmakers to meet with the international film director. The festival will also screen two of his recently 4K restored films, making CIFF one of the early platforms to screen Tarr’s newly restored film copies.”
Béla Tarr is an award-winning film director, producer, and screenwriter. Born and raised in Hungary in 1955, Tarr graduated from the Budapest Theatre and Film Academy. He debuted his career with a series of documentary films that marked the early success of his filmmaking journey. Tarr’s melancholic approach in most of his films was emphasized by the black and white picture and the slow long-shot scenes. His realistic approach was constantly attained by having his films mostly headlined by unprofessional actors, which added to the philosophical outlook that marked his work.
Tarr’s filmography includes Családitüzfészek (1979), Panelkapcsolat (1982), Damnation (1988), Satantango (1994), The Turin Horse (2011), The Man from London (2007), and Missing People (2019), to name a few.
Furthermore, Tarr became a member of the European Film Academy in 1997, and in 2003 he founded TT Filmmuheyly, an independent film workshop that operated under his leadership until 2011. In 2012, Tarr established the international film school, Film Factory, in Sarajevo, and later became a visiting professor at several film academies. He received several national and international awards, as well as honorary doctorates and lifetime achievement awards worldwide.
His most remarkable awards include the Ernest Artaria Award for his film Almanac of Fall at Locarno Film Festival in 1984; FIPRESCI Prize and Best Director award for his film Satantango at Faro Island Film Festival, where the film was also nominated for the Best Film award. In 2005, Tarr’s film Damnation (1988), received the France Culture Award at Cannes Film Festival.
