In March 2023 we presented Béla Tarr’s cinematic masterpiece Sátántangó as intended, without breaks or intermission, in the new digitally remastered 4K version.
Alongside original composer and lead actor Mihály Víg, the Berlin-based musicians Shed (René Pawlowitz), KMRU, Elena Kakaliagou, Martina Bertoni, and Grischa Lichtenberger were especially commissioned to reimagine parts of the cinematic score of the 7-hour magnum opus. These artists will perform their pieces in the 1600 sqm concrete hall of a former crematorium in Berlin.
Hungarian film director Béla Tarr is one of the most outstanding filmmakers of modern cinema. His Sátántangó is considered by many critics to be among the most important works in film history.
Susan Sontag once proclaimed that she would be “glad to see it every year for the rest of [her] life”.
Sátántangó has been restored in 4K from the original 35mm camera negative. The seldom screened, absurdist dystopia is based on a novel by László Krasznahorkai, considered to be the most important living Hungarian author and is the first one to received the Man Booker International Prize. Divided into 12 distinct episodes, Sátántangó weaves in and out of the lives of the locals as the silver-tongued Irimiás promises a bright future in a new promised land.
“[Béla Tarr is] one of cinema’s most adventurous artists, and his films, like Sátántangó and The Turin Horse are truly experiences that you absorb, and that keep developing in the mind” — Martin Scorsese
Tarr has a longstanding and profound relationship with Berlin: many of his films have been shown and premiered here, including ‘The Turin Horse’ (2011), his last feature film to date. In 1989/1990 Tarr spent several months in Berlin as a scholarship holder of the DAAD’s Berlin Artists-in-Residence programme. Between 1990 and 2011 he was professor at the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin.
“Never less than mesmerizing“ — The New York Times
Experience Sátántangó as it evolves and transforms, set within Berlin’s industrial architecture. There will be two screenings, Friday, 31.3 and Saturday, 1.4.2023, in front of an intimate audience of 300. Doors will open at 7 pm, the film starts at 8 pm.