Lars Von Trier

Started by Adam0199, March 19, 2003, 10:41:39 PM

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MacGuffin

Lars von Trier Takes Back Apology for Nazi Statements
The "Melancholia" director says he is "not sorry" after all for his comments made earlier this year at a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival.
Source: THR

Director Lars von Trier came under fire earlier this year when he made remarks sympathizing with Adolf Hitler during a Melancholia press conference at the Cannes Film Festival. Von Trier apologized shortly after he made the statements, but was eventually banned from the festival.

The director is now taking back his apology, by saying he was "not sorry" about the statements after all.

The Danish director believes there is no such thing as the "right or wrong thing to say." "I think that anything can be said. That is very much me. The same with film --anything can be done in a film. If it can be thought in the human mind, then it could be said and it could be seen on a film," he told GQ. "Of course you get troubles for it afterwards, that's for sure, but that doesn't make it wrong. To say I'm sorry for what I said is to say I'm sorry for what kind of a person I am, I'm sorry for my morals and that would destroy me as a person."

He continued, "It's not true. I'm not sorry. I am not sorry for what I said. I'm sorry that it didn't come out more clearly. I'm not sorry that I made a joke, but I'm sorry that I didn't make it clear that it was a joke. But I can't be sorry for what I said --it's against my nature."

Von Trier noted in the GQ interview that there was one exception to the rule. "I'm sorry when I was a child I had a little bird that I fed, and I was so young I forgot it when I was on holiday, and then it was dead when I came home. That I was sorry for," he said.

In May, von Trier admitted to being a Naxi and understanding Hitler. "For a long time I thought I was a Jew and I was happy to be a Jew," he began, "then I met (Danish and Jewish director) Susanne Bier and I wasn't so happy. But then I found out I was actually a Nazi. My family were German. And that also gave me some pleasure. What can I say? I understand Hitler...I sympathize with him a bit." He also said, "Now how can I get out of this sentence? Ok. I'm a Nazi."

The festival officially declared von Trier a persona non grata after the director made those remarks. He apologized for the remarks, claiming that he was provoked by journalists.

Von Trier issued a statement following his ban and in response to a letter that was written to the film festival saying that Cannes "had smirched its history by expelling the director." Von Trier said, "In my opinion, freedom of speech, in all its shapes, is part of the basic human rights. However, my comments during the festival's press conference were unintelligent, ambiguous and needlessly hurtful."
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

Jeremy Blackman

This makes me happy, actually.

MacGuffin

Lars Von Trier Questioned by Police Over Cannes Statements
The Danish filmmaker announced that he will refrain from doing any future interviews.

Danish filmmaker Lars Von Trier announced that he had been questioned by the police in Denmark over the controversial comments he made during Cannes 2011.

"Today at 2 p.m. I was questioned by the Police of North Zealand in connection with charges made by the prosecution of Grasse in France from August 2011 regarding a possible violation of prohibition in French law against justification of war crimes," he wrote in a statement.

"Due to these serious accusations I have realized that I do not possess the skills to express myself unequivocally and I have therefore decided from this day forth to refrain from all public statements and interviews," the Melancholia filmmaker continued.

At the Melancholia press conference at Cannes, Von Trier made a shocking statement when asked about his Germanic roots.

"For a long time I thought I was a Jew and I was happy to be a Jew," he began, "then I met (Danish and Jewish director) Susanne Bier and I wasn't so happy. But then I found out I was actually a Nazi. My family were German. And that also gave me some pleasure. What can I say? I understand Hitler...I sympathize with him a bit."

Von Trier qualified that "I don't mean I'm in favor of World War II and I'm not against Jews, not even Susanne Bier" before digging himself deeper. "In fact I'm very much in favor of them. All Jews. Well, Israel is a pain in the ass but..."

Von Trier apologized shortly after he made the statements, but was eventually banned from the festival. He later took back his apology.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

Jeremy Blackman


Pubrick

this is why all the greatest directors stayed away from the blood sucking media.

pta will probably face this bullshit when the master comes out and they keep going on about scientology.

you heard it here first.
under the paving stones.

©brad

Am I the only one who found his comments kind of hysterical? 

Robyn

Have anyone here listen to the audio commentary for his films? Is it worth it?

Also, my favorite Von Trier films (because I'm a nerd and Trier is one of my new favorite directors):

1. Dancer in the Dark
2. Antichrist
3. Dogville
4. Breaking the Waves
5. The Kingdom
6. Manderlay
7. Europa
8. The Element of Crime

He needs a Xixax subforum :(

MacGuffin

Quote from: KarlJan on October 23, 2011, 05:21:55 AM
He needs a Xixax subforum :(

We tried that. It got less views than The Playboy Club.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

analogzombie

What's funny about the Cannes "Nazi" comment is when you watch the interview it is totally clear that he is joking. He says something so absurd that he assumes no one is taking it seriously, but in the middle of it he seems to think better of it. There is a similar exchange between him and a reporter from the Daily Mail UK at the Cannes press conference for Antichrist that can be seen on the Criterion DVD. The reporter asks him to justify the making of the film to which Von Trier says he doesn't have to and is then lambasted about how this is Cannes and he absolutely does have to.
"I have love to give, I just don't know where to put it."

Jeremy Blackman


Robyn

Okay, fuck it. Is there anyone here that have ANY Lars von Trier script to send me? I mean, any script at all. It feels like I've tried everything. I even called Zentropa and asked if I could read any of his script somewhere. Their response was that you could buy some of his script (I think that they released Breaking the Waves and you can get the Dancer in the Dark script if you buy some expensive korean Dancer in the Dark box) and in some cases, read them on internet "If some fucker have uploaded it". But where the hell should I look? I have realized that it is really difficult to find any of his scripts and it's starting to annoy me! I want to read any of his script soooo bad.

MacGuffin

Lars Von Trier Wants You! Invites World To Submit Films Inspired By Albert Speer, Sammy Davis Jr.
By Movieline

Leave it to Lars von Trier to find a connection between Nazi architect Albert Speer and Rat Pack singer Sammy Davis Jr.  The controversy-courting Danish filmmaker has invited the public to reintrepret one or more of six great works of art for a community film project that will be unveiled at the Copenhagen Art Festival.

The project is being called Gesamt, which translates to "coming together" or "a joint piece of work," said director Jenle Hallund, who has the nerve-wracking challenge of creating a cohesive film from fragments of the submissions under some very tight time constraints.  The deadline for submissions is Sept. 6, and the finished film is slated to debuty Oct.12, 2012 at Kunsthal Charlottenborg in Copenhagen.

Hallund, who was a script supervisor on Von Trier's Melancholia as well as the co-director Limboland  (2010)  told us Gesamt has the potential to "be a testimony to the health and the soul of civilization. It should show how ordinary people appreciate and interpret big art," she says.

Make that big art that stirs the soul of Von Trier. Participants must base their submissions one or more of six different works of art, and Hallund said that the chosen few "are all pieces of art that [Von Trier] likes."

According to the announcement of the project — which was modestly titled "Lars Von Trier Challenges The People" — by the Danish Agency for Culture, prospective entrants must use as their muse(s):  James Joyce's Ulysses, "which once was banned in the United States because it was seen as obscene and lewd"; August Strindberg's play The Father, "which still stands as a striking example of a dysfunctional family"; Paul Gaugin's painting Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? French composer César Franck's improvisations; or the music of the late Sammy Davis Jr., "who stepped himself into the hearts of people through song."

Also included among is the Zeppelin Field grandstand in Nuremberg, Germany that Hitler's main architect Albert Speer created.

The choice is sure to generate debate given comments Von Trier made during a press conference at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, when he said: "I understand Hitler, but I think he did some wrong things, yes, absolutely. ... He's not what you would call a good guy, but I understand much about him, and I sympathize with him a little bit. But come on, I'm not for the Second World War, and I'm not against Jews."

When I asked Hallund if Von Trier, who likes to stir the pot, was referencing the Cannes controversy by including Speer, she replied: "I can't speak on his behalf, but if you look at some of Speers' art, it is phenomenal, and I would say that it is possible to appreciate his art independent of the ideology" to which it was attached during the reign of Hitler.

"All art can be used toward elitism and propaganda," Hallund continued, adding, "a lot of religious art has been used for that. Some people will say that the Bible and the Koran are works of art, but they have also been used toward mass murder and genocide and repression on the planet."

"We can't just close our eyes and say we can never talk about Albert Speers or Nazism," Hallund concluded. "We make ourselves more prone to repeat the past by ignoring it.

Gesamt producer Nadia Claudi told me that six submissions have already been received. One arrived from Germany, she said, and the rest are from Denmark. All but one of the submissions are filmed, and Speers right now is leading the subject matter by a thin margin: Two submissions are based on his work at Zeppelin Field; one deals with Joyce, and another, with Gaugin. She said that one entry takes on all six subjects, while the content of another submission is a bit inconclusive.

The deadline for entries is Sept. 6.  Everything you need to know about submitting your work can be found at this link.

"I just hope that  people will be very free in their interpretations of this and show us what they have in their hearts," Hallund said.  "And I would love to hear from Americans."
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

Pubrick

Only six submissions?

Quick someone send him a severed hand curled into a fist but with the middle finger missing.

Has that been done? I'm sure that would win.
under the paving stones.

72teeth

easy there Luka...

i sent him feces
Doctor, Always Do the Right Thing.

Yowza Yowza Yowza

Cloudy

Has anyone read a Von Trier script? Is there any way I can get my hands on one? Searched with no avail.
(*Edit: found Breaking the Waves screenplay on amazon, still looking for Antichrist/Melancholia)

Found this through my digging, it shows IN DETAIL the plannings/iterations of the prologue to Melancholia: