From The Hollywood Reporter:The Cannes Film Festival has officially declared Lars Von Trier a persona non grata, effective immediately, after the controversial Danish director called himself a Nazi and expressed sympathy for Hitler at a press conference on Wednesday.
Von Trier has since apologized for the remarks, claiming he was provoked by journalists. But on Thursday, the Cannes Festival's board of directors held a meeting and voted to ban von Trier from the Festival.
"The Festival de Cannes provides artists from around the world with an exceptional forum to present their works and defend freedom of expression and creation," the Festival said in a statement. "The board of directors profoundly regrets that this forum has been used by Lars von Trier to express comments that are unacceptable, intolerable, and contrary to the ideals of humanity and generosity that preside over the very existence of the festival. The Board of Directors firmly condemns these comments and declares Lars von Trier a persona non grata at the Festival de Cannes, with effect immediately."
It is unclear if Von Trier's ban will be lifelong or if the director can rehabilitate himself. The Cannes Festival office refused to comment beyond its statement. This is the first time in recent memory that Cannes has blacklisted a director.
It is all the more astounding because von Trier is one of Cannes' favorite auteurs. Melancholia marks his ninth appearance in Cannes Competition. He has won the festival's top prize for Dancer in the Dark in 2000, and has twice taken the runner-up Jury Prize for Europa (1991) and Breaking the Waves (1996).
-Joey's Two Cents: Well, he certainly said something stupid...thoughts?
I think we can cross him off the awards list for the rest of the year...
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ReplyDeleteHaha, Lars von Trier is and will always be a nutcase. He HAS to say all the things you just can not say. But would people be as disgusted if he was a comedian and not an "artsy" film-maker? In Denmark we've learned to just take everything he says with a grain of salt.
ReplyDeleteI don't get it if anyone takes his remarks seriously. In the same press-conference, he said his next movie was a hardcore porn featuring Kirsten and Charlotte. This man obviously has a humor that very few people(if any) get, but he doesn't have one evil(or nazi) bone in him.
Was his comments out of line? No doubt. It's close to being the dumbest thing he has said, but in my mind, banning him from the festival is overkill.
Nevertheless, I'm still looking very much forward to seeing Melancholia.
It's the wrong country to make that remark in...France was pretty much in ruins because of the Nazis and World War 2.
ReplyDeleteI'm not defending what he said, I couldn't if I would, and I wouldn't if I could. But giving him the boot is too much. One could argue that it's kinda nazi to ban someone for a very poor attempt at a very bad joke.
ReplyDeleteNot really...more like disciplining someone who won't discipline himself. If he doesn't know where the line he can't cross it, now he does. Also, keep in mind that he's a guest of the festival, so it's completely their discretion.
ReplyDeleteVery true. It's their own choice. But by banning him, the story of Cannes 2011 is now Lars von Trier, and not the movies which is exactly what he wanted. So in a way, he wins.
ReplyDeleteIf the ban is permanent however, Lars von Trier has just lost his best promotion platform.
We shall see...
ReplyDeleteTo be honest this is really rather strange of Cannes. To me his remarks came of has a sarcastic joke. You have educated people that obviously don't share his feelings working for him so I don't think they would put themselves out there like that to support his beliefs. With that said I don't think that that's how he honestly feels, I think he just wanted to create some buzz. It's said that they banned him, they'll probably not ban his film in my opinion since other people worked on it. But the chances now at winning anything are slim.
ReplyDeleteThe film is still in competition.
ReplyDeleteRidiculous! How an organization can claim to "defend freedom of expression and creation" but then turn around and ban a director for saying something distasteful is beyond me.
ReplyDeleteWhatever happened to separating a man's personal life from his work? For chrissakes, Roman Polanski raped a young girl and fled America to avoid punishment, yet Cannes had no problem allowing him to serve as Jury President in 1991 or awarding him their highest competitive honor in 2002. The Board of Directors should be ashamed of their hypocrisy.
To paraphrase Jerry Seinfeld, Lars von Trier's comments don't offend me as a Jew. They offend me as a comedian.
ReplyDeleteThat's my best guess as to how they saw the situation.
ReplyDeletePshh. This is nothing. Roman Polanski raped someone and we still gave him an Oscar, so I wouldn't cross Von Trier off the awards season list yet.
ReplyDeleteThere's a difference in filmmaker as well, so keep that in mind.
ReplyDeleteLike I said before, this is a very bold and unlikely move coming from Cannes. There have been worst things happened. Even films of worst taste than Von Trier's comments which look to be just a bad joke or accumulation of thoughts. As in Oscar talk, I would've even bother trying to understand the affects of this. It's so early and complex trying to understand that bunch that my only guide to comprehend this is "What will they do with Gibson?" With that answered, you can rest assured, everything will follow.
ReplyDeleteIt has nothing to do with the film, that's still in competition. It has to do with their displeasure over him.
ReplyDeleteI'm not even that familiar with Von Trier but I knew he was just making a (bad and distasteful) joke. Ridiculous to ban him.
ReplyDeleteJoey are you saying they banned him because they didn't find it funny? Because that would be even more ridiculous.
No, I'm paraphrasing Seinfeld to explain my own opinion...I'm Jewish, and I'm not offended about the Nazi aspect, I just think it's a terrible joke. I'm not on the jury...just my two cents.
ReplyDeleteThe guy is an interesting filmaker...just a jerk otherwise.
ReplyDeletethough I have to admit I did like Breaking The Waves a lot...but I couldn't sit through Dogville, I jaw-dropped when I saw Dancer in the Dark, amazed that this won Cannes Palme D'or and Antichrist was just sadistic masturbation.
ReplyDeleteFair enough
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