03/05/2013 - Lars von Trier's new film will not be ready for the Cannes Film Festival – it will be theatrically launched later this year – but TrustNordisk has secured his presence on the Côte d'Azur

After artistic director Thierry Fremaux, of the Cannes International Film Festival, explained that Danish director Lars von Trier “was declared ‘persona non grata’ for the 2011 festival and never declared ‘persona non grata’ forever”, nothing should stop von Trier’s new feature, Nymphomaniac [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Louise Vesth
film profile], from screening on the Côte d’Azur – except that it isn’t ready.

But Danish international sales company TrustNordisk will secure his presence by a marketing campaign, introducing a teaser poster (pictured) and a Nymphomaniac website (from May 16) to promote pre-sales for the film which has already been licensed to 23 territories.

"We have tried to distill the intimacy and the obscenity of the film down to its simplest form, which we hope will engage the audience in the universe of Nymphomaniac - one sexy piece of artwork at a time", said Danish designers Phillip Einstein Lipski and Maria Biilmann, who developed the campaign.

Starring French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg and Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård, in an international cast that also features Stacy Martin, Shia LaBeouf, Jamie Bell, Christian Slater, Uma Thurman and Willem Dafoe, von Trier’s new film depicts a woman’s journey from birth to 50 as told by the main character, a self-diagnosed nymphomaniac.

“It will most likely become von Trier's masterpiece, his most ambitious film till now, with its potential of humor, grandeur and visual quality,” said Zentropa Entertainments CEO Peter Aalbæk Jensen. “It makes an old  merchant as me smile to see pleasure and laughter go hand in hand with great drama.”

Since the drama takes place in the 1980s-1990s, when hair fashions were somewhat different, Zentropa had to sign Danish stylist Dennis Knudsen to supply 25 toupés of pubic hair for the cast. “I am wigmaker, and whether I create a false moustache for a man or a fake hairy pussy for a woman is no big deal,” observed Knudsen. Nymphomanic will be released late 2013.