Lars von Trier – Golden Olive for his Career

Lars von Trier gratefully displays the
Golden Olive for his Career from the
Festival del Cinema Europeo
The Award was presented to him in Denmark

photo credit Ida Harder _ Zentropa 2025

Dear everybody

First and foremost, I want to thank the European Film Festival in Lecce for this award. It means a great deal to me, that my films continue to resonate with so many people. When I was young, I went to university and film schools and saw a bunch of films. But then at some point, I told myself, that I had to stop watching new films. Not old films, that was fine, but from some specific date that I can’t tell, I decided to stop watching new films. I have since then, used an island, as the explanation for this. Let’s say I was an explorer, and I had been given the task of making a map of an island. My job was the specific task of crossing this island by moving exclusively in a straight line toward, for example, the northeast.

Precision would be of upmost importance in order to make my observations useful for the overall objective, which could be a mapping of the island. It is clear that my collected data would be useless, not to mention destructive to the mapping, if I began to deviate from the line I had set out, as one could imagine that I suddenly saw something more interesting in, for example, the southwest direction.

Therefore, like a chef that need to keep his sense of taste clean, I have tried not to watch any new films. I must admit that I have sinned, and watched a film once in a while. But the reason I try not to, is that I would risk getting excited, for something I saw in a different direction. So, I have been relatively disciplined.

That I now receive this award makes me happy, since it gives me some hope, that I have not failed entirely, on my journey across the island.

Thank you very much.

Lars.