CANNES, France (Reuters) – The Cannes film festival expelled Danish director Lars Von Trier on Thursday for jokingly calling himself a Nazi and Hitler sympathizer, leaving the world's biggest cinema showcase in a state of shock.
His comments angered Jewish groups and caused U.S. 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 apologized, 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," organizers 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 organizers of the Cannes film festival have eloquently taken a determined moral stand against cavalier expressions of hate and insensitivity to those brutalized 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 organization CRIF said the comments were part of what it called "the worrying tendency of normalizing Nazism."
DID HE REALLY MEAN IT?
Among hundreds of movie-goers milling about in the Mediterranean sun outside the Grand Theater Lumiere, some questioned whether the famously provocative Von Trier really meant what he said.
"He did it out of pure provocation, which is very much like Trier who always pushes the envelope," said Christophe Calmels, whose company Films Sans Frontieres distributes von Trier's 2003 film "The Five Obstructions."
"It's not surprising (his expulsion), it's what he had coming -- just like Galliano," he added, in reference to fashion designer John Galliano, who was recently sacked by Dior after footage surfaced of him making anti-Semitic comments in Paris.
"The question is did he really believe what he said?"
Von Trier's latest movie "Melancholia" is in competition in Cannes this year, and had been seen as a possible prize winner before his remarks appeared to snuff out its chances.
A spokeswoman for Cannes said she did not know whether it was the first such expulsion and if Von Trier would be allowed back to the festival in the future. She added that Melancholia would remain in competition.
During Wednesday's press conference, Von Trier joked that he was a Nazi and that he sympathized with Adolf Hitler.
"I think I understand the man (Hitler)," Von Trier said. "He's not what you would call a good guy, but I understand much about him and I sympathize with him a little bit. But come on, I'm not for the Second World War, and I'm not against Jews.
"I am of course very much for Jews. No, not too much because Israel is a pain in the ass. But still, how can I get out of this sentence?"
At the end of the conference he also muttered the phrase: "the final solution with journalists."
As the press conference broke up, Dunst, who was no longer smiling, could be heard saying: "Oh Lars, that was intense."
(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)
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