The Cannes film festival expelled Danish director Lars Von Trier on Thursday for jokingly calling himself a Nazi and Hitler sympathiser, leaving the world's biggest cinema showcase in a state of shock. His comments angered Jewish groups and caused US actress Kirsten Dunst to squirm with embarrassment beside him at a press conference on Wednesday as he launched into a bizarre monologue about his Jewish and German heritage.
The 55-year-old, formerly a darling in Cannes who won the top Palme d'Or award in 2000, quickly apologised, but it proved too little too late. "The board of directors firmly condemns these comments and declares Lars Von Trier persona non grata at the Festival de Cannes, with effect immediately," organisers said in a statement on Thursday.
The American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants, which had complained after the remarks were first reported, welcomed Cannes' decision to throw Von Trier out. "The organisers of the Cannes film festival have eloquently taken a determined moral stand against cavalier expressions of hate and insensitivity to those brutalised by the Nazis - Jew and non-Jew," said the group's vice president, Elan Steinberg.
"We cannot look into Von Trier's heart to judge the sincerity of the 'apology' he issued. Only his future words and actions can tell us whether he understands the hurt he has caused." France's main Jewish organisation CRIF said the comments were part of what it called "the worrying tendency of normalising Nazism."