Concept
Lars von Trier (né Trier; 30 April 1956) is a Danish film director, actor, producer, writer, and song-writer. Beginning in the late-1960s as a child actor working on Danish television series Secret Summer, Trier's career has spanned more than four decades. Considered a major figure of the European film industry, he and his works have been variously described as ambitious and provocative, as well as technically innovative. His films offer confrontational examinations of existential, social,, psychosexual, and political issues, and deal in subjects including mercy, sacrifice, and mental health. He frequently collaborates with the actors Jens Albinus, Jean-Marc Barr, Udo Kier and Stellan Skarsgård. Von Trier co-created the avant-garde filmmaking movement Dogme 95 alongside fellow director Thomas Vinterberg and co-founded the Danish film production company Zentropa Films, which has sold more than 350 million tickets and garnered eight Academy Award nominations. Von Trier has been the subject of criticisms and controversies: Cannes Film Festival, in addition to nominating and awarding his films on numerous occasions, once listed him as persona non grata for comments he made about Adolf Hitler and Nazism at the festival in 2011. The treatment of animals (namely that of a donkey killed during the production of Manderlay) in his films has been criticized, and scenes including graphic violence and unsimulated sex have come under scrutiny. He has further been accused of mistreatment and negligence towards women during the filming process, including singer Björk and actress Nicole Kidman. Von Trier was born in Kongens Lyngby, Denmark, north of Copenhagen, to Inger Høst and Fritz Michael Hartmann (the head of Denmark's Ministry of Social Affairs and a World War II resistance fighter). He received his surname from Høst's husband, Ulf Trier, whom he believed to be his biological father until 1989. He studied film theory at the University of Copenhagen and film direction at the National Film School of Denmark.
