Argentina's DC Refuses to Distribute Lars von Trier's 'Melancholia' (Cannes 2011)

2:14 AM PDT 5/19/2011 by Agustin Mango

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The company cancels contract after the director's remarks about Nazism.

BUENOS AIRES – Argentine distribution company DC announced Thursday that they would not distribute Lars Von Trier’s Melancholia after the director’s controversial remarks about Nazism and Adolf Hitler.

Lars von Trier Admits to Being a Nazi, Understanding Hitler (Cannes 2011)

Cannes Film Festival Condemns Lars von Trier's Nazi Comments (Cannes 2011)

•Cannes Film Festival

“In view of the unacceptable statements expressed by filmmaker Lars Von Trier at today’s press conference in the Cannes Film Festival and his evident Nazi declaration - which is offensive for the Jewish people and human kind in general, Distribution Company SA, owner of the distribution rights for the film Melancholia in the Southern Cone, has decided to cancel the contract that linked it to the film.

We clearly condemn Mr. Lars Von Trier’s statements and will not support or release his film in the country.”

The statement is signed by Bernardo and Paula Zupnik, president and head of the company.

Von Trier was forced to issue a pubic apology today after stating that “for a long time I thought I was a Jew and I was happy to be a Jew. Then I met [Danish and Jewish director] Susanne Bier and I wasn’t so happy. But then I found out I was actually a Nazi. My family was German. And that also gave me some pleasure. What can I say? I understand Hitler…I sympathize with him a bit."

The Danish filmmaker claimed he let himself “be egged on by a provocation”, and made it clear that he was “not anti-Semitic or racially prejudiced in any way, nor am I a Nazi."

The Fest acknowledged Von Trier’s apology and stated that “it is adamant that it would never allow the event to become the forum for such pronouncements on such subjects."