The Sarajevo Film Festival has launched a new programme dedicated to the legacy of the Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr, who died on 6 January 2026 at age 70 in a Budapest hospital after a long illness (The Guardian).

Called the "Béla Tarr in Sarajevo Tribute," the programme focuses on work by former students of the Film Factory, a doctoral-level film school Tarr founded in Sarajevo in 2013 — planning the classes, inviting the teachers, and choosing the Bosnian capital as its base (Variety; Morelia Film Festival). The trade publication Variety, in a report by journalist Lily Ford, described the tribute as a showcase for those former students (Yahoo Entertainment).

The lineup is international and spans several years of festival-circuit recognition. Valdimar Jóhannsson's Lamb (Iceland, Sweden, Poland, 2021, 106 min), starring Noomi Rapace, won the Prize of Originality in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes. Bianca Lucas's Love Dog (Poland, Mexico, U.S., 2022, 84 min) received a special mention for best first feature at Locarno. Pilar Palomero's Motherhood (La Maternal) (Spain, 2022, 120 min) earned Carla Quílez the best leading performance award at San Sebastián. Rounding out the programme are Kaori Oda's Cenote (Ts'onot) (Japan, Mexico, 2019, 75 min), Sergio Flores Thorija's Travesias (Mexico, 2021, 108 min), and Stefan Malešević's Soil and Wings (Toprak ve Kanatlar) (Serbia, North Macedonia, 2025, 77 min) (Variety).

Tarr's connection to the festival runs deep. In 2006, Sarajevo dedicated its "Tribute to" programme to him. In 2013, the festival presented him with the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award. At the 25th edition of the festival, a 4K digital restoration of his seven-hour masterwork Sátántangó was screened to mark the film's own 25th anniversary (Sarajevo Film Festival; Sarajevo Film Festival; Sarajevo Film Festival). The festival has called him "a great friend" of the event (Sarajevo Film Festival).

Sarajevo is not alone in paying respects. Film at Lincoln Center in New York presented the tribute series "Farewell to Béla Tarr" from 27 March to 2 April 2026 (Film at Lincoln Center).

Tarr, born on 21 July 1955, was a Hungarian director, screenwriter, and producer known for dark, distinctive films such as Sátántangó and The Turin Horse (Deadline; PBS NewsHour). Jovan Marjanović is the director of the Sarajevo Film Festival (Variety).

What gives the tribute its particular shape is that it turns the lens back on Tarr as a teacher rather than only as a film-maker. The Film Factory was his bet that Sarajevo could become a place where a new generation of directors learned by doing — and the six films in the programme, drawn from Mexico, Iceland, Spain, Japan, Serbia, Poland, and the United States, are evidence of how far that classroom reached.