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BREAKING: The Cannes Film Festival organizers are taking very seriously the comments made yesterday by director Lars von Trier during the press conference to introduce his film Melancholia. While Deadline termed him Biggest Douchebag after he made a tepid apology and a party for the film was canceled, the festival has gone further and labeled him “persona non grata” because of his inflammatory comments about the Nazis and Hitler. Meaning even provocateurs should watch the potentially hurtful things that come out of their mouths. Here’s the festival announcement:
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’s Board of Directors, which held an extraordinary meeting this Thursday 19 May 2011, 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.
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Ridiculous.
I agree. They don’t ban communists even though communism killed as many people than Naziism. Be fair. Ban all mass murderer apologists, not just Nazi’s.
How ridiculous can one get? Equating communism to Nazism is something only a illiterate would make. Communism doesn’t propagate race superiority, while the other does.
BEYOND ridiculous. A standing ovation for Mel Gibson and this guy gets tossed. And let’s not kid ourselves. They would welcome Roman Polanksi with open arms AND a standing ovation.
Agree. This guy jokes about being a Nazi and gets banned, Mel Gibson is a Nazi and gets a standing ovation.
Mel Gibson said idiotic, intolerant things while very drunk. He did apologize for his remarks, which the Anti-Defamation League accepted on August 1, 2006. Its national director, Abraham H. Foxman, released a statement that said Gibson’s “apology sounds sincere.”
WME super agent Ari Emanuel, who hounded Gibson repeatedly, is an unrepentant Jewish racist and homophobe. If you Google him, you’ll find that he was forced to pay a $2.25 million settlement in 2002 for making racist and homophobic comments to some of his employees. His agency had no qualms with signing Mark Wahlberg (violent hate crimes) and Elgin James (violent gang-related crimes). Nobody in Hollywood called for blacklisting him, and he never apologized for what he said. Hypocrisy, anyone?
I’ve been reading this website for a long time now, and I’ve noticed how hypocritical the anti-Gibson crowd can be. These people want Gibson to apologize but then won’t accept it, and they refuse to acknowledge what happened. Talk about absurd.
It’s strange that David complains about bigotry when he’s so full of it himself. He made false, derogatory generalizations about the French in a previous thread: “How do you boo Terry Malick but cheer Mel Gibson? Already knew the French hated Muslims (burqa ban), apparently they hate Jews too. (Comment by David — Tuesday May 17, 2011 @ 5:25pm EDT)” If the French hated the Jews so much, Jews like Roman Polanski, Bernard-Henri Levy, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Pierre Mendes France, the Rothschild family, etc. would never have become prominent in French society. This isn’t a matter of intolerance to people like David; it’s all about getting blood.
Nearly the entire European Jewish community was slaughtered, en masse, only 2 generations ago. And here we have a civilized person, a celebrated filmmaker, sitting in a country where part of the Holocaust actually took place, making light of it. About 76,000 French Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, some of them no doubt from the city of Cannes. Some of them no doubt little children and elderly people, living in Cannes. And this guy thinks it’s a joke. And then people on this board think it’s a joke. Makes me ashamed of my species.
How incredibly stupid. Anyone who has paid any attention to Lars over the years knows that he never means any of the nonsense that comes out of his mouth. And the REAL anti-semite (gibson) just keeps on going…
You are the one who is stupid! No one has any right to say what he said even if it was meant to be in a joking manner. A lot of people died in the “Holocaust” because of remarks like his. Any form of anti Semitism is not acceptable fodder in today’s world.
And Mel Gibson is not working right now because of his remarks. No one will hire him.
No, see, Lily likes von Trier, so it’s okay what he said. And she doesn’t like Mel Gibson, so it’s not okay what he said. Pretty simple.
Wrong Mel Gibson was on the Red Carpet in Cannes promoting his movie the Beaver, and he has another movie lined up. So check your sources. Why is he not a persona non grata?
Mel Gibson is not a “Persona Non Grata” at Cannes because his racist/anti-semitic remarks were not made at Cannes. Mel Gibson’s comments were taken out of his personal life during bad and what should have been private moments in his life. Does that make Gibson’s comments acceptable? No, of course not. But, this is the reason why he is not banned from Cannes.
Forget about anti-Semitism, 52 million people died. I am a jew, and many of my uncles and aunts where murdered by Hitler, but lets never forget the other 46 Million people who died as well…its incredible that when people think of the Holocaust, they only think of it being Jewish. How many gypsies died, black people, gay people…soldiers who gave their lives to kill Hitler…its about the world, its about life, its about all of us preventing this from happening ever again.
This is why an idiot like Lars should be kicked out, because idiots like this, make people forget what really happened.
Really? Really nobody has a right to say what he said? Because of what? Because it offended you? Because it made you think? And from someone who put the Holocaust in quotation marks? Anti-Semitism, whether real or in Von Triers case a form of social protest and not-real are acceptable. If you want the right to free speech you have to tolerate all other forms of speech.
You may not like what he said. You may not get the joke. But it doesn’t mean he doesn’t have the right to say it.
As for Cannes they should know better. They show far more incendiary films. They showed Kung Fu Panda 2 for crapsake. That should be a crime.
Errr, I guess I must be out of the loop here. What is it about Kung Fu Panda 2 you found offensive? I am assuming you were at Cannes then? Care to divulge what you saw that made Von Triers’ comment pale in comparison?
“Holocaust”, eh?
That’s more casually offensive than anything Von Trier said.
And yet… you’re allowed to say that. Yes, believe it or not, people are allowed to SAY whatever the hell they want.
I have a feeling most of the people outraged about Von Trier have never watched his movies, or seen/heard his interviews… because this is pretty normal. The guy is an enfant terrible. he’s a douche. he’s an asshole. he’s a blowhard. he’s arrogant and difficult.
and guess what? THATS WHAT MAKES HIM INTERESTING.
Cannes is the most snooty, self-consciously upscale, elitist “Film Festival” in the world (See? I used quotation marks too) and I love the fact that Lars pissed in everyone’s punch bowl.
As a Jew, and a survivor of TWO attempted murders at the hands of Nazi Skinheads, you don’t know what you’re talking about. To equate Von Trier’s rant with actual actions on the Holocaust is vastly more offensive than the statements themselves.
Sure, he might have a problem with some Jews. Sure, he might not like Israel, and conflating Jews with Israel IS fundamentally offensive, but he exists primarily as a provocateur and nothing in his statement, other than his praise of the Nazi artist, seemed earnest.
And if we’re gonna jail people for admiring and understanding unpopular political art…well then through me in jail too. I adore Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre, T.S. Eliot, Harold Pinter, and a whole slew of other Antisemitic authors.
is he going to jail for saying this?
untrue. mel gibson is in a movie with jodi foster- coming to theaters soon.
sorry, lily. if you know for a fact that it isn’t true, maybe he should be able to threaten someone’s life, or even start a hate rally, we’ll just check w/ you to see if and when he’s serious.
Why should some film director have the freedom to joke about something like this when other people don’t? No one is above certain social norms – and with 6 million plus dead, it’s a social norm still worth defending.
Lars should form a company with John Galliano.
The cannes festival just lost all credibility with their fascist methods.
The real horror is not what LvT was joking, but the responses from people. Pure fascism.
“Persona non grata”—- why are wasting time and not “frog” march him out of the Palais, put him up against a wall and execute him, immediately!
The termerity, the nerve, the utter “gaul” to dare to speak ones’ mind, even in jest. “Liberte. Fraterite. Egalite”, NON!!!
It may be censorship, but it’s not fascism (let alone “pure fascism”). I’m not sure you know what “fascism” actually means.
And granted, I’m only assuming you posted your comment from the U.S., but let’s not judge the festival to harshly or hastily. World War II happened on their soil. I imagine it’s less of an abstraction there than it might be here.
Amen. France suffered one of the harshest Nazi occupations. They’ve got damn good reason to be offended and want more than an “oh gee, did I upset you” apology.
For those of you still not getting just HOW offensive his words were, try a translation into American: “Thanks for inviting me to the Tribeca Film Festival. Gotta say, the view’s so much better now without that eyesore the World Trade Center. What, that’s offensive? Come on, you gotta give Bin Laden props as an architecture critic.”
exactly…
The Festival de Cannes provides artists from around the world with an exceptional forum to present their works and defend freedom of expression…except what THAT GUY just said!!!!!
They should lock him up with John Galliano…
What does this “persona non grata” mean, though? Will “Melancholia” be disqualified from competition? Will Lars Von Trier be banned from future festivals? Does “freedom of expression” not apply to him? It’s hard to understand the hypocrisy of this stance, especially when an actual anti-Semite (Mel Gibson ) gets a standing ovation at the same festival. The Vichy would have been proud.
According to french newspaper Le Figaro his film is still in competition.
This director deserves to be sent packing. I think this is the right thing to do.I believe certain people should not be given an oppourtunity to speak for groups that literally are here to disrespect others because of their differences. I am sure he may or maybe not a talented director but what he did was unforgivable and this swift yet neccesary position the festival took against this Baby boy ( I can’t say he is a man because this would mean I respect his thoughts or even consider him a rational person) / director was in my opinion the correct thing to do, period.
Still, at least they let mel gibson walk down the red carpet.
People who get their panties in a twist? about Von Trier’s “nazi-joke”, obviously don’t know the first thing about him, He was raised by a jewish father (Trier = jewish family name), and a communist mother who met in neutral Sweden, after fleeing Denmark during the nazi-occupation… He is about as nazi as Jon Stewart.
Trier is also a city in Germany. It’s where Karl Marx was born. Not that any of that is relevant. I agree, the festival is really overreacting, to the point of ridiculousness.
Sooooooo not the point. He said what he said, and he’s being punished for what he said. Pretty simple.
Lars Von Trier is a complete douchenozzle. His apology was not worth a shit. I used to think he was a pretty smart guy, but after those comments it’s clear he has the wit of typical white trash.
Bravo to the Board at the festival for booting this unrepentant man. His lukewarm “apology” was certainly not sufficient in light of his crass and reprehensible comments. It was so very uncomfortable watching the video clip of the interview as you can see how he digs himself deeper and deeper into a hole with every word that comes out of his mouth. Yes, words do mean something, and as adults we must realize that actions have consequences. I hope that Scorsese reevaluates working with this vile person on the announced upcoming collaboration, as he should stand as someone who confronts prejudice and hateful ideas. Von Trier certainly showed his true colors.
My dad, who died in 1980, was a rather sophisticated and highly educated man who loved joking. He was Hungarian. A European sense of humor sometimes takes a bit of effort to follow. My parents lived in Toronto, Canada and they once had some visitors from Europe whom they took to see Niagara Falls. Then they crossed the border into the U.S. When asked if they were importing anything, dad joked, “I’ve got a small bomb in the trunk.” Kerplow! They were pulled in, searched, questioned and held for over an hour. I read LvT’s comments. His attempt at humor was amateurish and just plain dumb. Worse, he spoke about his film in such a vague way and mentioned that he wasn’t sure he liked it. It was enough to drive any audience away. His mouth is his worst enemy.
The persona non grata for Von Trier is in my opinion, a bit extreme. But does this mean he is banned from Cannes forever from this point on? If so, it is Cannes’ loss. Von Trier apologized for his stupid remarks, but I guess the Board didn’t feel it was sincere.
All will be forgiven by next year. Cannes and Von Trier will move on with their lives and careers. But this year, a time-out is appropriate.
It’s not the end of the world if some flighty film director gets slapped on the wrist and sent home from Cannes without supper. For all the people screaming “fascism,” get a grip. Von Trier will get over this incident, but he needs to be gone for a short while.
Who cares
As someone who has spent years watching Von Trier be a misogynist abusive ass and glorify those attitudes, I find all the “you don’t know, Lars, he is a big joker” defenses here to be offensive. I’m going to give you all the benefit of the doubt, and think that you are unable to look beyond his talent and really look at both what he says, does and frankly films to see that you are defending a bigoted sociopath.
Lars Trier aka Lars Von Trier can be a brilliant filmmaker and a deeply troubled human being at the same time. They are not mutually exclusive.
Calling von Trier a “bigoted sociopath” is perhaps the most stupid thing I’ve ever read. At least today.
And in a related story, Mel Gibson was nowhere to be found.
Filmlover, you can’t be serious?
Oh wait, you probably are. It’s not that we shouldn’t confront prejudice and hateful ideas, but lets get our priorities straight: There are so many blatantly hateful (not to mention genocidal) events happening right now in front of us. Surely this must feel completely ‘small’ in comparison? For your sake, I hope it does. I believe the actions of the organizers are cowardly and spineless, but also very telling. I see you’re hoping to fuel some flames. Maybe because you have no real understanding of the world. You simply regurgitate what you’ve learned from your television set. You feel what they tell you to feel. Your feelings are manufactured by their machine. It’s the mark of a true hypocrite: grossly uneducated and blissfully unaware of the world – yet vocal. Truly dangerous- but everywhere. People, lets stop living in the early half of the 20th century. Time to move on, and grow up. There is too much to worry about in the present.
To all of those bringing up Mel Gibson:
What Gibson said (and did) is arguably much worse, but he didn’t use Cannes as a forum for airing anti-Semitic views. From the point of view of the festival organizers, that would be a legitimate (if subtle) difference.
Meanwhile convicted criminal Roman Polanski is welcome to the festival any time.
If the Cannes Film Festival wants to play morality police they at least should be consistent.
As a member of the public, I shouldn’t need to know a single thing about Von Trier in order to place his comments in context as has been suggested by some on this forum. At best, his comments are in extremely poor taste. And using the festival as a mouthpiece for such garbage is completely uncalled for. Whether the festival’s response is appropriate or not is irrelevant. The lesson is clear – if you want to be the enfant terrible, then stand the consequences wherever the cards may fall.
His FATHER is Jewish for crying out loud. And the biological father that he never knew and probably hates is German! The humor was in poor taste but was firmly tongue in cheek. For all the risque films that Cannes chooses, you’d think they would’ve developed a similar sense of humor.
Somewhere in a hotel room, Mel is breathing a HUGE sigh of relief!
I don’t care where he was raised, or what religion his father is. He was given a spotlight, and he glorified the extermination of millions of people for his own amusement. I am surprised the festival took the stance they did considering their big hug of Mel Gibson, but good for them!
Ridiculous. Last year Cannes gave LvT a venue to screen a graphic depiction of female genital mutilation, but this year they’re shocked, just shocked, by his obviously insincere and incredibly boorish off-screen comments. Meanwhile, Mel Gibson gets a standing ovation.