Lars von Trier was born on the 30th of April 1956. He studied film theory from 1976-1979 before attending the Danish Film School where he studied from 1979-1983. Famously, it was at film school that Lars met his long-time partner in film and business, producer Peter Aalbæk. During his time at the Danish Film School, he won the Best School Film Award at Munich International Film Festival.

After attending the Danish National Film School, he quickly established himself on the European film scene as one of Scandinavia’s best. His debut film Forbrydelsens element (The Element of Crime, 1984) won the CST award for Best Artist-Technician. Moreover, the film was nominated for the Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival. Afterwards, he spent the next three years making the meta-film Epidemic (1988) which was shown at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard. Lars was back in Cannes again in 1991 where the film Europa completed Lars von Trier’s first trilogy. Europa won the jury price while also picking up awards at other major festivals and numerous awards from the European Film Awards.

After completing his first film-trilogy, together with Thomas Vinterberg, Lars founded the Dogma-95 movement. They presented a manifesto with specific requirements regarding common film-making techniques, which rippled throughout the world and have inspired a generation of filmmakers. In 2008 Lars von Trier, alongside Thomas Vinterberg and their fellow Dogma-directors, received the European Film Award for European Achievement in World Cinema. His biggest film achievement during his Dogma era is arguably his highly praised, as well as highly criticized, film Idioterne (The Idiots, 1998), which was nominated for the Palme d’Or.

His next two other films Breaking the Waves and Dancer in the Dark cemented him as a unique voice in film. Breaking the Waves was highly acclaimed and won the Grand Prix prize at Cannes Film Festival in 1996, while Dancer in the Dark won the Palme d’Or in 2000.

Since then, Lars’ achievements have continued. In 2003 he made the experimental drama Dogville starring Nicole Kidman, which premiered at the main competition in Cannes. He followed that with the highly praised Depression Trilogy. Starting with Antichrist in 2009, a story about a grieving couple, premiered in competition in Cannes and included a Best Actress Award. Subsequently, Melancholia (2011) tells the story of two depressive sisters, which also premiered in competition in Cannes and won the Award for Best Actress. Lastly, the film of sexual awakening, Nymphomaniac (2013), premiered both at Berlin Film Festival and Venice Film Festival respectively.

With his uncompromising method, artistic integrity and distinctive poesy Lars von Trier is on of few Danish artists whose work not only resonates in Denmark but all over the world. His language is the film medium and throughout his life he has been breaking with conventions, rules and morns to expand this language and find new letters to its alphabet He has worked with fiction, documentary, performing arts and opera, mixed genres and moved freely between art films, pop culture and experimenting formats. Trier has furthermore worked with some of the worlds greatest actors and actresses, among them are Kirsten Dunst, Willem Dafoe and Stellan Skarsgård.