Lars Von Trier

Lars Von Trier was born on 30th April 1956 in the Kongens Lyngby town of Denmark. He is 5 feet 7 inches tall. He is the son of Fritz Michael Hartmann and Inger Trier. His stepfather was Ulf Trier. He started making films at the age of 11 with his Super-8 camera, gifted to him by his mother. Lars went to National Film School of Denmark and learned filmmaking and direction. While he was in college, he made his first two films, titled The Last Detail and Nocturne.

The films were awarded the Best Film awards at the Munich International Film Festival of Schools. He graduated from NFSD in 1983. In 1984, he began directing The Element of Crime. He co-wrote the script of the film with Niels Vorsel. The film was the first part of a trilogy. The film starred Esmond Knight and Michael Elphick. It was a massive success and received as many as 12 awards, including the Cannes Film Festival’s Technical Grand Prize, and an award for the Best Film at the Bodil Awards. The other two parts of this trilogy were Epidemic in 1987 and Europa in 1991. Both the films were a great success and received positive views and many awards.

He directed a TV movie Medea in 1988, which was felicitated by the Jean d’Archy prize. Other than directing films, he has acted and lent his voice to several films. He was the narrator of the film, The Early Years: Erik Nietzsche Part 1 in 2007. He played the role of Jew in his film Europa in 1991. He is well-known for his distinct style of making movies. He is the writer of the title song of, Dancer in the Dark (2000). Laid Back’s music video Bakerman is directed by Lars. Lars is the cofounder of Zentropa Entertainment, a production company. Lars started a filmmaking movement called Dogme 95 along with Thomas Vinterberg in 1995.

The next year, he did an experiment titled Psychomobile 1: The World Clock with 53 actors. He also directed a movie called Breaking the Waves that year, which fetched the Cannes’ Grand Prix. A documentary titled The Five Obstructions was made by him in 2003. He is the recipient of Cinema for Peace Award by UNICEF in 2004. Von married Caecilia Holbek in 1987. They co-parent two children. While Holbek was pregnant with her second child, Lars was accused of having an affair with their house maid. The couple separated in 1996.

He married his second wife, Bente Froge in 1997. They have two sons, Benjamin and Ludvig. Trier has a fear of flying and occasionally suffers from bouts of depression.