Sátántangó Live

Béla Tarr‘s Sátántangó without breaks in 4K with a reimagined live score by 9 artists, transforming this 7-hour cinematic masterpiece.

At the end of March we will present Béla Tarr’s cinematic masterpiece Sátántangó as intended, without breaks or intermission, in the new digitally remastered 4K version. Together with original composer and lead actor Mihály Víg, nine musicans, specially commissioned to reimagine the cinematic score of the 7-hour magnum opus, will perform it live in the 1600 qm concrete hall under an old 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 is being 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.

“He is one of the few genuinely visionary filmmakers“ – Gus Van Sant

The audience are invited to move freely throughout the screening, as it resonates in and around every nook and niche of the historic space, offering endless constellations of sound, volume and intensity, and so endless ways to capture each moment, each shot, each note, each scene. Once inside, space and time collapse into a singular experience, a sanctuary, oblivious to outside interference, a reality unto itself.

“Never less than mesmerizing“ — The New York Times

The premiere will take place over two screenings on Friday, 31.3 and Saturday, 1.4.2023 in front of an intimate audience of 300.
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Sátántangó Live is a project by Digital in Berlin. Curated by Michael Rosen and funded by Capital Cultural Fund | Hauptstadtkulturfonds. Presented by The Wire and taz, die tageszeitung.