Director of the celebrated Breaking the Waves (which won, among many other awards, the Grand Prix du Jury at Cannes 1996, a Cesar for Best Foreign Film, the EFA award for Best European Film and an Academy Award nomination for Emily Watson in the leading role), Lars von Trier is widely regarded as one of Europe's most gifted filmmakers.

His films Nocturne and Images of a Relief, made while he was a student at the Danish Film School won Best Film Awards at the 1981 and 1982 Munich Film Festivals respectively; Element of Crime, winner of the Grand Prix Technique at Cannes in 1984; Europa (Special Jury Prize for Artistic Contribution and shared Grand Prix du Jury at Cannes 1991) and Epidemic, in addition to the groundbreaking television serials, 'The Kingdom I' (1994) and 'The Kingdom II' which was presented at Venice in 1997. His most recent film, The Idiots premiered at Cannes in 1998. For The Idiots, von Trier took Dogma's cinematic 'vow of chastity' eschewing many of the tricks of the filmmaking trade in an effort to recapture the truth, spontaneity and inventiveness of the medium.

Read the Dogma 95 "vow of chastity" | the Dogma 95 web site |