Von Trier 'non grata' at Cannes

19 May 2011 Last updated at 14:33 GMT Lars Von Trier: "I understand Hitler but I think he did some wrong things yes absolutely but I can see him sitting in his bunker"

The Cannes Film Festival has banned director Lars Von Trier after he claimed to be a Nazi and that he sympathised with Adolf Hitler.

In a statement issued on Thursday, organisers said the Danish film-maker was now "persona non grata".

The director issued an apology on Wednesday for comments made at a press conference earlier in the day.

"I am not anti-Semitic or racially prejudiced in any way, nor am I a Nazi," he said in a statement.

The festival's pronouncement came after Wednesday's premiere of Von Trier's new film Melancholia, which remains in competition at this year's event.

The decision was supported by French culture minister Frederic Mitterrand who told reporters in Brussels that "there is a major difference between a film that was chosen in a calm atmosphere and a director who clearly blew a fuse".

He added Von Trier's remarks "did not have a place in the festival, or anywhere else for that matter".

Organisers said Cannes' board of directors had held "an extraordinary meeting" at which Von Trier was declared "a persona non grata... with effect immediately".

The director's comments, they said, were "unacceptable, intolerable and contrary to the ideals of humanity and generosity that preside over the very existence of the festival".

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The festival's board of directors... regrets that this forum has been used by Lars Von Trier to express comments that are unacceptable [and] intolerable”

End Quote Festival de Cannes The 55-year-old is a previous winner of the festival's Palme d'Or award and is renowned for courting controversy.

Von Trier's off-colour remarks, purportedly made in jest, were the talk of the festival on Wednesday and prompted a swift rebuke from organisers.

The director stunned onlookers by stating he "sympathised" with Hitler and for saying that while he was "not against Jews... Israel is a pain in the ass".

The festival said it had been "disturbed" by the 55-year-old's comments and had asked him to "provide an explanation".

"The director states that he let himself be egged on by a provocation," its initial statement read.

"The festival is adamant that it would never allow the event to become the forum for such pronouncements on such subjects."

Von Trier and his stars were all smiles as they took to the red carpet on Wednesday at the official screening of Melancholia.

It followed a press conference Dunst (r) was heard to call "intense"

The mood was very different earlier, however, when the director's remarks were met by awkward, stony silences.

Spider-Man actress Dunst was heard to describe the occasion as "intense" as she left the podium.

In an interview later, the star admitted Von Trier had "run his mouth" and had "dug himself in a deep hole".

A family drama that takes place in the shadow of an imminent apocalypse, Melancholia also stars the French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg and Britain's John Hurt.

Von Trier was last at Cannes in 2009 with Antichrist, a dark drama featuring graphic scenes of sex and violence that provoked a furore at that year's event.

Speaking on Thursday, one of Melancholia's producers said the director "accepts whatever the festival directors want to do to punish him".

"It's up to the festival to decide what is good for the festival," Meta Foldager told the AFP agency.

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Malick movie premieres at Cannes

16 May 2011 Last updated at 16:17 GMT Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain co-star in Malick's long-awaited drama Brad Pitt has launched Terrence Malick's long-awaited drama The Tree of Life at the Cannes Film Festival.

The publicity-shy director was nowhere to be seen after the film's debut press screening on Monday was greeted with a mixture of boos and applause.

The film, set in 1950s America, revolves around the relationship between a father and son. It also stars Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain.

The Tree of Life is one of 20 films in the running for the Palme d'Or prize.

The secrecy surrounding Malick's film - and the director's own aversion to interviews - has made The Tree of Life one of the most talked about films at the festival.

Malick did not attend the post-screening press conference, leaving Pitt and co-star Chastain to face reporters.

Producer Sarah Green said Malick was "very shy" and Pitt defended his absence saying an "an artist should not have to be a salesman".

Pitt plays a loving but stern father, with Penn the grown-up son Jack reflecting on the people and moments that shape his life.

A short trailer, released in December, featured a number of mysterious cosmic images alongside scenes from 1950s Texas.

Dinosaur 'detour'

Early reviews were largely positive with Peter Bradshaw awarding the film five stars in The Guardian.

He wrote: "This is visionary cinema on an unashamedly huge scale: cinema that's thinking big. Malick makes an awful lot of other film-makers look timid and negligible by comparison."

Time Out's Dave Calhoun said: "The Tree of Life offers breathtaking imagery and even manages to survive an epic detour to the dawn of time, featuring the Big Bang, dinosaurs, meteors and all.

"It's so ambitious and full of inquiring ideas and questions about our place in the world that, perhaps inevitably, it feels like a grand folly - albeit a heartfelt and stimulating one."

It is Malick's fifth feature as a director. The 67-year-old American famously took 20 years between making his second film Days of Heaven in 1978 and The Thin Red Line in 1998.

Malick's last film was The New World (2005) starring Colin Farrell.

Cannes organisers had hoped to debut the The Tree of Life a year ago, but it was withdrawn by the film-maker at the last minute.

Monday's screening also marks the halfway point of this year's festival.

Last week, Pitt's partner Angelina Jolie was in the Cannes spotlight when she was in town to support her new animated film Kung Fu Panda 2, which is not in competition.

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