Trust in Cannes with Dogville

24/04/2003

The name Lars von Trier will be a strong sales tool for his international film sales company, Trust Film Sales in Cannes this year. The Danish director's star-studded latest film, Dogville [+see also:
trailer
film profile] , was selected for the official competition, his future project, Manderlay, is in the pipeline, and a new draft of von Trier's screenplay, entitled Dear Wendy (to be directed by Thomas Vinterberg of Festen fame), is available to international distributors.
As expected, Dogville represents von Trier’s attempt to win a second Palme d’Or, after his 2000 victory with Dancer in The Dark. The film stars Nicole Kidman as Grace, a beautiful fugitive hiding from gangsters in the little community of Dogville, and helped by the town’s self-appointed spokesman, Tom, played by Paul Bettany. Both Kidman and Bettany will join von Trier on the red carpet on 20 May for the film’s official screening at the Palais.
Von Trier’s fans will be delighted to learn that Dogville Confessions, a 55-minute behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of Dogville, directed by a bright young talent called Sami Saif, will be available on 35mm, and will also be screened at the Marché.
Trust Film Sales will also start pre-selling von Trier’s new projects: Manderlay and Dear Wendy. The latter HD project is co-produced by von Trier and Peter Aalbæk Jensen’s Zentropa Productions with Nimbus Film and the start date is next September.
Trust will also screen Inheritance, Per Fly’s follow-up to The Bench at the Market. The film stars Ulrich Thomsen (Festen, The World Is Not Enough), and is a current hit at the Danish box office (with over 350,000 admissions). The package on offer also includes a 3-minute promo of Strings, a new Trust pick-up film directed by talented newcomer, Anders Rønnow-Klarlund. Trust describe this fantasy film as a puppet feature that’s “as funny as Antz and Shrek”. Stings is scheduled to go into production in the autumn and should be ready in time for Cannes 2004.