Is there any director working today who’s more incendiary than Lars von Trier? Whether he’s depicting a graphic genital mutilation on-screen or getting banned from the Cannes Film Festival for his misguided Hitler “jokes,” his career is one that seems to run on controversy. That’s why we’re intrigued to hear that the Danish filmmaker’s latest project Gesamt, is a user-generated film that will be directed by Jenle Hallund and produced by the Copenhagen Art Festival. The goal of the finished piece? To “create a cacophonous testimony of the human condition’s greater purpose than power and profit.” Sounds pretty tame for him, right?
Participants are being asked to submit short films inspired by one or more of six famous works of art — including James Joyce’s Ulysses, the music of Sammy Davis Jr., and Nazi architect Albert Speer’s controversial Nuremberg monument Zeppelinfield. OK, that sounds a bit more like the Lars who we all know. You’ve got until September 6th to send in your five minutes of material, and it’s worth noting: “Technical skills are not the biggest priority – originality and enthusiasm are much more important.” [via ArtsBeat]