Who is Lars Von Trier and when did the Danish director work with Bjork in Dancer In The Dark?
All you need to know about the Danish filmmaker who was banned from Cannes film festival for Nazi comments
HE'S THE film director and writer with more than 100 prestigious awards on his shelf including a number from the Cannes Film Festival before he was banned in 2011 for Nazi comments.
But who is Lars Von Trier and when did the Danish filmmaker work with Icelandic singer Bjork? We've got the lowdown...
Who is Lars Von Trier? What is his background?
Lars Von Trier is a Danish film director who was born in Denmark on April 30, 1956 in a town north of Copenhagen.
He studied film theory at the University of Copenhagen and at the age of 25 he won two awards for the Best School Film at the Munich International Festival of Film Schools.
He takes his name from Ulf Trier, the man he thought to be his father until 1989, when he found out that his biological dad was actually the head of Denmark's Ministry of Social Affairs Fritx Michael Hartmann.
Despite this he kept the surname and at the age of 25 added the German nobility title "Von".
When did Lars Von Trier work with Bjork?
Lars worked with Bjork back in 2000 on the crime drama movie Dancer in the Dark.
The Icelandic musician starred as the lead character Selma Jezokova, who goes to America with her young son.
The film was met with critical acclaim and won the prestigious Palme d'Or at Cannes.
The song I've Seen It All, performed by Bjork and co-written by Lars was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song.
Why was Lars Von Trier banned from Cannes film festival?
Despite being honoured a number of times at the Cannes film festival Lars Von Trier was declared persona non grata after making some unsavoury comments in 2011.
The Danish filmmaker was answering questions about his German heritage when he said: "I thought I was a Jew for a long time and was very happy being a Jew.
"Then it turned out that I was not a Jew... I found out that I was really a Nazi which also gave me some pleasure. What can I say?
"I understand Hitler. He did some wrong things, absolutely, but I can see him sitting there in his bunker at the end... I sympathise with him, yes, a little bit."
The comments led to him being expelled from the festival altogether.
What else has Lars Von Trier worked on?
Lars has won more than 100 awards and had more than 200 award nominations in his career.
Included among those is the Grand Prize for Breaking The Waves and the Jury Prize for Europa both at Cannes Film Festival.
He also wrote and directed the 2003 avante-garde crime drama Dogville starring Nicole Kidman.
He also wrote and directed the 2011 pschological drama Melancholia and the 2013 film Nymphomaniac about a woman's sexual awakening.
